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THE 



Three Secession Movements 



IN THE 



UNITED STATES. 



SAMUEL J. TILDEN, 

THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY; 
THE ADVISER, AIDER AJSTD ABETTOR 

OF THE 

GREAT SECESSION MOVEMENT OF I860; 

AND ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF THE 

INFAMOUS RESOLUTION OF 1864. 



HIS CLAIMS AS A STATESMAN AND REFORMER 
CONSIDERED. 



H\r ^% 






BOSTON: 

PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON 

1876. 




% 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Secession in the United States 8 

Mr. Tilden's Pamphlet of 1860 3 

The Year 1860 the Great Crisis in our History 3 

The Authors of the War of tlie Rebellion 3 

The Government of the Unit#d States. — Is it a Confederation or a Nation ? 3 

The Resolutions of 1798-99 3 

Report of Mr. Madison on the Resolutions of 1798-99 3 

Acts against which these Resolutions were Directed. — The Alien and Sedition Laws . 4 
Washington's Opinion of the Character of these Resolutions and Laws. — Letter to Pat- 
rick Henry 4 

Questions raised by the First Secession Movement 6 

The first Movement allayed. — Election of Mr. Jefferson to the Presidency 6 

Revival of the Secession Movement in South Carolina, under pretext of the Tariff Laws 6 

Ordinance of Nullification and Secession by that State 6 

Counter Proclamation by General Jackson. — He declares that the Promoters of Secession 

will be held in Eternal Infamy 7, 8 

The two Attempts at Secession identical in Spirit and Doctrine 8 

South Carolina persists. — The Force Bill passed and Secession abandoned 8 

Cause and Progress of the third Movement towards Secession 9 

The Two-thirds Rule 9 

The Secession Resolution of 1840 , 10 

Complete Triumph of the Secessionists in the Convention of 1852 10 

Mr. Tilden comes to the Front in 1860 and proclaims the Right of Secession. — His Let- 
ter to Hon. William Kent 10 

The South secedes, South Carolina leading as in 1832 11 

The South right in seceding, according to Mr. Tilden and the Northern Democracy . . 11 

Franklin Pierce asserts the Right of the South to secede 12 

President Buchanan asserts the Right of the South to secede 12 

J. S. Black, Buchanan's Attorney-General, asserts the Right of the South to secede . . 13 

Fernando Wood asserts the Right of the South to secede 13 

Rodman M. Price asserts the Right of the South to secede 14 

Leaders of the Northern Democracy responsible for Secession 14 

Buchanan, Tilden, and others contrasted with Jackson 14 

Mr. Tilden's infamous Resolution in the Chicago Convention of 1864 15 

Proceedings of the Convention of 1864 in reference to this Resolution . , ' 15 

Endorsement of the Resolution by tlie " New York World " IG 

The War proceeds, and the South coerced into the Union 17 

Mr. Tilden's Arraignment of the licpublican Party on the Slavery Question 17 

Wisdom and Necessity of the Republican Organization 18 

Mr. Tilden declares that it must end in utter Failure and Disgrace 19 

The Success achieved 19 

Utter Failure of all Mr. Tilden's Predictions 19 

Mr. Lincoln's and Mr. Tilden's Statesmanship compared 20 

Mr. Tilden the most obnoxious Person in the Nation to all Principles of Order and Good 

Government 20 

Mr. Tilden, the Political Reformer 21 

Letter of Mr. Greeley to Mr. Tilden. — " Letter to a Politician " 22 

Mr. Tilden the Reformer of Municipal Corruptions 22 - 

Is Tilden the fit Man for President of the United States ? 23 

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by 

W. P. Rogers, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



SECESSION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



^ 



MR. TILDKn's pamphlet. 

The letter, a facsimile copy of which is an- 
nexed hereto, was publislied on the eve of the 
Presidential Election of 18fi0, by Mr. Samuel 
J. Tilden, at this time candidate for the Presi- 
dency of the United States, and scattered broad- 
cast by him, in the vain hope of defeating the 
election of Mr. Lincoln. 

THE TEAR 1860 THE GREAT CRISIS IN OUR 
HISTORY. 

The year 1860 was the great crisis in our his- 
tory. With the election of Mr. Lincoln began 
the desperate military struggle for the mainten- 
ance of our national unity. It had for some 
time been evident that the North was about to 
pronounce against the creation of new Slave 
States. The exercise of such a right or power 
was met on the part of the South by threats of 
secession ; the election of Mr. Lincoln, whose 
triumph foreshadowed that of tlie cause of free- 
dom, to be the signal for their movement. It is 
unnecessary again to go over tlie ground so often 
gone over. The South seceded in a body. War 
followed with infinite waste of blood and treasure, 
and with all the pangs and heart-rendings that 
the death, in camp or in field, of half a million of 
men could cause. 

THE AUTHORS OF THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 

Who were the authors of tliis war, with all its 
waste of treasure and of life ; which bereft almost 
every family in the land of some one of its mem- 
bers, and which turned the whole nation into a 
house of mourning'? Those at the North who 
instructed the Southern States that secession was 
a right secured to them by the Constitution, and 
that tliey were the sole judges of the occasion, 
as well as the mode in which it was to be ac- 
complished. Among the most conspicuous and 
criminal of them stands Mr. Tilden, who now 
asks tlie people to honor him with the higliest 
office in their gift. 

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES — 
IS IT A CONFEDERATION OR A NATION ? 

The question always asked, from the adoption 
of the Constitution in 1788 to the present time, 
has been, " What is the nature of the govern- 
ment of the United States 1 Is it a confederation 
from which each State, as an integral party, 
may witiidraw at pleasure ; or is it a govern- 
ment of paramount powers from which no State 



can withdraw but by the consent of the whole f " 
Although the question had in itself nothing to do 
with geographical distinctions or boundaries, the 
South very soon came to give one answer, the 
North another, and each differing wholly and 
totally in kind. That of the South was formu- 
lated on the famous Virginia and Kentucky res- 
olutions of 1798-99, directed against the Alien 
and Sedition laws, and of which Mr. Jefferson, 
though not a member of the Legislature of either 
State, was the autlior ; and in the Report made 
by Mr. Madison upon the same to the Legislature 
of the former State. These Resolutions, among 
other things, declared : 

THE RESOLUTIONS OF 1798-99. 

" That the several States composing the 
United States of America are not united on the 
principle of unlimited submission to their gen- 
eral government, but that by a compact under 
the style and title of the Constitution for the 
United States, and of amendments thereto, 
they constituted a general government for spe- 
cial purposes ; delegated to that government 
certain definite powers ; reserving, each State to 
itself, the residuary measure of right to their own 
self-government ; and that, whensoever the gen- 
eral government assumes undelegated powers, 
its acts are unautlioritative, void, and of no 
force ; that to this compact each State acceded as 
a State, and is an integral party ; that the gov- 
ernment created by this compact was not made 
the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the 
powers delegated to itself, since that would have 
made its discretion, and not tlie Constitution, the 
measure of its powers ; but that, as in all other cases 
of compact among parties having no common judge, 
each partt/ has an equal right to judge for itself; as 
well of infractions as of the mode and measure of re- 
dress, ..." and that a mdlification by those sover- 
eignties of all unauthorized nets done under the color 
of that instrument is the rightful remedy." 

The Resolutions adopted by both States were 
similar in spirit, and, substantially, in form. 
Those submitted to, and finally passed by, the 
Legislature of Virginia were referred to a Com- 
mittee, of which Mr. Madison was Chairman, 
who submitted an elaborate Report in their 
support, from which the following extract is 
given : — 

REPORT OF MR. MADISON ON THE RESOLUTIONS 

OF 1798-99. 

" It appears to your Committee to be a plain 
principle founded in common sense, illustrated 
by common practice, and essential to the nature 
of compacts, that wliere resort can be had to no 



tribunal superior to the authority of the parties, 
tlie i)arties themselves must be the rightful 
judges, in the last resort, whether the bargain 
made has been pursued or violated. The Con- 
stitution of the United States was formed by the 
sanction of the States given by each in its 
SOVEREIGN capacity. The States, then, being 
parties to the constitutional compact, and in 
their sovereign capacity, it follows of neces- 
sity that there can be no tribunal above their 
authority to decide on the last resort whetlier 
the compact made by them be violated ; and, 
consequently, tiiat, as parties to it, they must 
themselves decide in the last resort such ques- 
tions as may be of sufficient magnitude to re- 
quire their interposition." 

The preceding extracts sufficiently set forth 
the language and spirit of those Resolutions and 
that Report, which have exerted such a tremen- 
dous and baleful influence over the history and 
fortunes of the country. They include all that 
can be said in support of the interpretation of the 
Constitution by the Southern States, and by tlieir 
adoption by the Democratic Party, as a funda- 
mental article of its creed, prepared the way to 
their ultimate secession from the Union. 

ACTS AGAINST WHICH THESE RESOLUTIONS WERE 
DIRECTED ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS. 

And what were the acts against which these 
Resolutions were directed, and wliich were re- 
garded as sufficiently grave in their character to 
warrant the dissolution of the Union ? There were 
four in all, the first three being termed the "Alien 
Acts," and the fourth, the " Sedition Act ; " all 
passed in the summer of 1798. The first act pro- 
vided for a residence in the country of fourteen 
years, as a condition of naturalization. The sec- 
ojid, of wliich the continuance was limited to two 
years, gave the President authority to order out 
of the country all such aliens as he miglit judge 
dangerous to the peace and safety of the United 
States, or to be concerned in any treasonable or 
secret machinations. The third provided, that, 
in case of a declaration of war, or an invasion of 
the United States, all resident aliens, natives or 
citizens of the hostile nation, might, upon a 
proclamation to that effect, to be issued at tlie 
President's discretion, be apprehended, secured, 
or removed. The fourth, the Sedition Act, 
made it a high misdemeanor, punishable by a 
fine not exceeding $5,000, imprisonment from 
six months to five years, and binding to good 
behavior, at the discretion of the court, for any 
persons unlawfully to combine and conspire to 
getiier, with intent to oppose any measures of 
the Government of the United States ; or to in- 
timidate or to prevent any person holding office 
under the Government of the United States, 
from executing his trust; or, with like intent, to 



commit, advise, or attempt to procure, any in- 
surrection, riot, unlawful assembly or combina- 
tion : and to punish by a fine not exceeding 
$2,000, and imprisonment, not exceeding two 
years, the prmting or publishing of any false, 
scandalous, and malicious writings against the 
government of the United States, or either House 
of Congress, or the President, with intent to de- 
fame them, or to bring them into contempt or 
disrepute, or to excite against them tlie iiatred 
of the good people of the United States ; or to 
stir up sedition, or witii intent to excite any un- 
lawful combination for opposing or resisting any 
law of the United States, or any lawful act of the 
President; or to excite generally to oppose or 
resist any such law or act, or to aid, abet, or 
encourage any hostile design of any foreign na- 
tion against the United States. In all prosecu- 
tions, however, under the last act, the truth of 
the matter stated might be given in evidence as 
a good defence, tlie jury being made judges both 
of law and fact. 

All these acts may have been very weak and 
foolish expedients, but they formed no better 
ground for the dissolution of the Union than the 
erection of a new collection district in any one 
of the Southern States. The utter absurdity of 
the pretexts put forth well illustrates the feeble- 
ness of the tie which, in the opinion of those 
who urged them, held the States together. The 
reason for the passage of the obnoxious meas- 
ures was the great number of French and Irish 
emissaries then in the country, seeking to em- 
broil it in a war with Great Britain. It would 
probably have been much better to have borne 
with tiieir interference and impertinence, no mat- 
ter how irritating or mischievous. They were, 
almost without exception, reckless adventurers, 
at war with all peace, order, and property in any 
community in which they might happen to be 
placed, and who would have soon become com- 
paratively powerless, by the disgust created for 
them in the minds of all well meaning citizens. 

Washington's opinion of the character of 
these resoldtions. letter to patrick 

HENRY. 

The publication of Mr. Jeffferson's Resolutions, 
with the Report of Mr. Madison, created pro- 
found impression and alarm, and on the part of 
no one more than Washington. He regarded 
them as deliberate attempts to destroy the Union 
which he had labored so earnestly and untiringly 
to form and maintain, and wliose preservation 
was always uppermost in his mind. Although 
he was in the last year of his life, and had sought 
to retire wholly fi:om the turmoil of political life, 



he at onoe returned to it, and directed all his 
etibrts to arouse tlie country to a sense of its 
dangers, ami to urge men of character, experi- 
ence and influence, to come forward to its res- 
cue. Immediately upon tlieir publication, he 
addressed a letter to the celebrated Patrick 
Henry, which, in earnestness of expression, zeal 
for the public welfare, appreciation of the dan- 
gers whicli tiireatened, and for the practical 
wisdom displayed, was never exceeded by any 
thwig that came from his pen. As it is a docu- 
ment of the greatest value, not only as illustrat- 
ing tlie history of the time, but of the whole 
career of " nullification," and should be in the 
hands, and uppermost in the minds, of every 
voter, it is here given in fuU.i 

" Mount Vernon, 15th of Jan'y, 1799. 

"Mr DEAR Sir, — At the threshold of this 
letter, I ought to make an apology for its con- 
tents ; but if you will give me credit for ray 
motives, I will contend for no more, however 
erroneous my sentiments may appear to you. 

" It would be a waste of time to attempt to 
bring to the view of a person of your observa- 
tion and discernment the endeavors of a certain 
■partji'^ among us to disquiet tiie public mind with 
unf<juniled alarms ; to arraign every act of the 
admmistration ; to set the people at variance 
with their government, and to embarrass all its 
measures. Equally useless would it be to pre- 
dict what must be the inevitable consequences of 
such a policy, if it cannot be arrested. 

" Unfortunately, and extremely do I regret it, 
the State of Virginia has taken the lead in this 
opposition. I have said the State, because the 
conduct of its Legislature in the eyes of the world 
will authorize the expression ; and because it is 
an incontrovertible fact, that the principal leaders 
of the opposition dwell in it, and that, with the 
lielp of the chiefs in other Slates, all the plans are 
arranged and systematically pursued by their fol- 
lowers in other parts of the Union ; though in 
no State except Kentuck}', that I have heard of, 
has legislative countenance been obtained be- 
yond Virginia. •* 

" It has been said that the great mass of the 

1 See Sparks' Life and Writings of Wasliington, 
Vol. XI. 1.. 3S7. 

2 Mr. Jeti'erson. 

3 Tbe States of Delaware, Rhode Island, Massachu- 
setts (then including Maine), New York, Connecticut, 
New Hampshire, and Vermont immediately and ear- 
nestly protested, in resolutions addressed to Virginia, 
against the doctrines put forth by th.at State. The 
Resolution adopted by the State of Delaware may be 
given, as briefly expi-essing the sentiment of all : — 

" Resotced, By the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the State of Delaware, in General Assembly 
met. that they consider the Resolutions from the State 
of Virginia as a very unjustifiable interference with the 
general government and constituted authorities of 
the Uniteil States, and of dangerous tendency, and 
therefore not a fit subject for the further consideration 
of this Assembly." 



citizens of this State are well affected, notwith- 
standing, to the general government and to the 
Union ; and I am willing to believe it, nay, do 
believe it; but how is this to be reconciled with 
their suffrages, at the election of Representa- 
tives, both to Congress and their State Legisla- 
tures, who are men opposed to the former, and by 
the tendency of their measures would d<-s!roi/ the 
latter? Some among us have endeavored to 
account for this inconsistency, and though con- 
vinced themselves of its truth, they are unable 
to convince others who are unacquainted with 
the internal policy of the State. 

" One of the reasons assigned is, that the most 
respectable and best qualified among lis will not 
come forward. Easy and happ}' in their circum- 
stances at home, and believing themselves secure 
in their liberties and property, they will not for- 
sake their occupations and engage in the turmoil 
of public business, or expose themselves to the 
calumnies of their opponents whose weapons are 
detraction. 

" But at such a crisis as this when every thing 
dear and valuable to us is assailed, when this paray 
hangs upon the wheels of government as a dead 
weight, ofjposing every measure that is calcu- 
lated for defence and self-preservation, abetting 
the nefarious views of another nation upon our 
rights ; preferring, as long as they dare contend 
openly against the spirit and resentment of the 
people, the interests of France to the welfare of 
their own country, justifying the former at the 
expense of the latter; when every act of their 
own government is tortured by constructions 
they will not bear, into attempts to infringe and 
trample upon the Constitution with a view to 
introduce monarchy; when the most unceasing- 
and the purest exertions which were making to 
maintain a neutrality proclaimed by the execu- 
tive, approved unequivocally by Congress, by the 
State Legislatures, nay, by the people themselves 
in various meetings, and to preserve the country 
in peace, are charged with being measures cal- 
culated to favor Great Britain at the expense of 
France, and all those who had any agency in it 
are accused of being under the influence of 
the former, and her pensioners ; ivhen measures are 
stjstemalicaili/ and pertinaciottsli/ pursued whinh must 
eventually dissolve the Union or produce 
COERCION ; I say, when these things have become 
so obvious, ought characters who are best able to 
rescue the country from the pending evil to re- 
main at home ^ Katlier, ought they not to come 
forward, and by their talents and influence, stand 
in the breach which such conduct has made on 
the peace and liap|)incss of this country, and 
oppose the widening of it? 

" Vain will it be to look for peace and hap- 
piness, or for the security of liberty or prop- 
erty, if civil discord should ensue. And what else 
can result from the policy of those among us who, by 
all the measures in their power, are driving matters 
to extremity, if they cannot be counteracted effect- 
ually? The views of men can only be known, 
or guessed at, by their .words or actions. 
Can those of the leaders qf this opposition be 
mistaken, then, if judged by this rule? Tiiat 
they are followed by numbers who are xinac- 



qnainted with their rlcsigns, and suspect as little 
the tendency of tlieir principles, I am fully per- 
suadeil. But if their conduct is viewed ivith indif- 
ference ; if there are activitij and misrepresentation on 
one side, and SHpine7iess on (he other, their numbers 
accnnitdated hi/ intriipiinfj and discontented foreicjners 
under proscription, icho are at war with their own 
governments, and the greater part of them ivith all 
governments, they tvill increase, and nothing short of 
ihiiiscience can foretell the consequences. 

" I come, now, my good sir, to the object of 
my letter, which is to express a hope and an 
earnest wish that you should come forward at 
tlie ensuinir elections, (if not for Congress, which 
3'ou may think would talce }"ou too long from 
home), as a candichite for Representative in the 
General Assembly of this Commonwealth. 

" There are, I have no doubt, ver^' many sensible 
men who oppose themselves to the torrent thatcar- 
ries away others wiio liad rather swim witli tlian 
stem it without an able pilot to conchict them ; 
but tiiese are neither old in legislation nor well 
known in the community. Your weight of cliar- 
acter and influence in the House of Representa- 
tives would be a bulwark against such dangerous 
sentiments as are delivered there at present. It 
would be a rallying-point for the timid, and an 
attraction to the M'avering. In a word, I con- 
ceive it to be of the utmost importance at this 
crisis that you should be there ; and I would fain 
hope that all minor considerations will be made 
to yield to the measure. 

" If I have erroneously supposed that your 
sentiments on these subjects are in unison with 
mine; or if I have assumed a liberty which the 
occasion does not warrant, I must conclude as I 
■ began, with praying that my motives may be re- 
ceived as an apology. At 1/ fear that the tranquillilg 
of the Union, and of this Slate in particular, is has- 
tening lo an awful crisis, has extorted them from me. 
(Signed) Geo. Washington." 

QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE FIRST SECESSION 
MOVEMENT. 

The Resolutions of 1798 and 1709, and the Re- 
port referred to, on one side, and the letter of 
Generwl Wasliington, on the other, presented the 
first issue tluit was formally made after the adop- 
tion of the Constitution, as to the nature of the 
government of tlie United States ; the former 
denying that it constituted a nation, and declar- 
ing that States might, at will, nullify any Act of 
Congress, and secede : the latter taking ground 
precisely tlie opposite, — that we were a nation, 
and that all refractory subjects. States as well as 
individuals, could be coerced into obedience to 
it. The issue joined was perfectly simple and 
intelligible, and went to the very root of tlie mat- 
ter. It transcended all reasoning or argument. 
If we were not a nation, only a confederation, 
then no obedience to it could be enforced. If we 
were a nation, then disobedience to it became a 
crime which might be punished by taking the 
property or life of the offender. 



THE FIRST MOVEMENT ALI.ATED. — ELECTION OF 
MR. JEFFERSON TO THE PRESIDENCY. 4 

The movement in 1798-99 for a dissolution of 
the Union, which created such wide-spread alarm, 
ended with the e.xpiration, or repeal, of the ob- 
noxious acts, and by the election of INIr. Jeffers6n 
to the Presidency in 1800, which, to use his own 
words, " was as real a revolution in the principles 
of our Government as that of 1776 was in its 
form." 

REVIVAL OF THE SECESSION MOVEMENT BT 
SOUTH CAROLINA, UNDER PRETEXT OF THE 
TARIFF LAWS. 

Secession slumbered till 1832, when South 
Carolina made her first famous attempt to dis- 
solve the Union, the alleged cause being the 
Tariff. In November of that year, she issued an 
Ordinance which, after reciting the grievances 
that led to its adoption, declared, among other 
things, — 

ORDINANCE OF NULLIFICATION AND SECESSION 
BY THAT 6TAT.E. 

" Tliat the several Acts of the Congress of the 
United States, purporting to be laws for the im- 
posing of duties and imposts on the importation 
of foreign commodities, and now liaving actual 
operation and effect within tiie United States ; 
and more especially 'an Act in alteration of the 
several Acts imposing duties on imports approved 
lOtli Ma.y, 1828;' also, an Act to amend the sev- 
eral acts imposing duties on imposts, passeil 14th 
July, 1832,' — are unauthorized by the Con- 
stitution of the United States, and violate the 
true intent and meaning thereof; and are null, 
void, and no law binding upon this State, its 
officers or citizens ; and all promises, contracts, 
and obligations made or entered into, or to be 
made or entered into, with the purpose to secure 
tlie duties imposed by said Acts; and all judicial 
proceedings which shall hereafter be had in 
affirmance thereof, — are and shall be held utterly 
null and void. 

"And we, the people of South Carolina, to the 
end that it may be fully understood by the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, and the jieople of 
the CO States, that we are determined to maintain 
this our orilinanco and declaraticm, at every 
hazard, do further declare that we will not sub- 
mit to the application of ,/brcp on the part of the 
Federal Government to reduce this State to 
obedience; but will consider the jiassage by Con- 
gress of any Act authorizing the employment of 
a military or naval force against the State of 
South Carolina, her constitutional authorities or 
citizens ; or any Act abolishing or closing the 
ports of the States, or any of them, or otherwise 
obstructing the free ingress or egress of vessels to 
and from the said ports ; or any other Act on the 
part of the Federal Government to coerce the 
State, shut up her ports, destroy or harass her 
commerce, or to enforce the Acts hereby declared, 
to be null and void, otherwise than through the 



civil tribunals of tlio country, as inconsistent with 
the longer rontinuMMce nt Soutli Carolina in tiie 
I'liiiin ; anil that tiie people of this State will 
thenceforth hold themselves ahsolved from all 
fun her ohiigation to maintain or preserve their 
political connection with the people of the other 
States, and will forthwith proceed to organize a 
sei)arate government, and do all other acts and 
things which sovereign and independent States 
niaj of right do." 

Such was a part of the famous Ordinance of 
Nullification of South Carolina in 1832. It was 
instantlj' met by a proclamation against it by Gen- 
eral Jackson, as President of the United States, in 
which, among other things, he said : — 

COITNTER PROCLAMATION BY GENERAL JACKSON. 

" This right to secede is deduced from the 
nature of the Constitution, which, they say, is a 
compact between sorercij/n States, who have pre- 
served their whole sovereicjnli/, and, therefore, are 
sul)ject to no superior ; that, because tliey made 
the compact, tiiey can break it when, in their 
opinion, it has l!)een defiarted from by the other 
Slates. Fallacious as this course of reasoning is, 
it enlists State pride, and finds advocates in the 
honest prejudices of those who have not studied 
the nature of our Government sufficiently to see 
the radical error on which it rests." 

"The [)eople of the United States formed the 
Constitution, acting through the State Legislat- 
ures in making the compact, to meet and discuss 
its provisions, and acting in separate Conven- 
tions when they ratified those provisions ; but 
the terms used in its construction show it to be a 
government in which the people of all the States 
col led ire!// are represented. We are one j)eople 
in the choice of the ['resident and Vice-President. 
Here the Slates have no other agency than to 
direct the mode in which the votes sliall be given. 
Candidates having the majority of all the votes 
are chosen. The electors of a majority of States 
may have given their votes for one candidate, 
and yet another may be chosen. The pco/i/e, 
then, and not the States, are represented in the 
executive branch." . . . 

" The Constitution of the United States, then, 
forms a government, nnt a lear/ne; and wliether 
it be formed by compact between the States, or 
in any other manner, its character is the same. 
It is a government in which all the people are 
represented, which operates directly on the peo- 
ple individually, not upon the States, — they re- 
tained all the power they did not grant. But 
that each Slate, having expressly parted with so 
many powers as to constitute, jointly with the 
other States, a single nation cannot, from tliat 
period, possess any right to secede, because such 
secession does not break a league, but destroys 
the unity of a nation; and any injur}' to that 
unity is not only a breach which would result 
from the contravention of a compact, but it is an 
offence against the iv/io/e Union. To say that 
any State may at pleasure secede from the 
Union, is to say that the United States are not a 
nation, because it would be a solecism to contend 
that any part of a nation might dissolve its con- 



nection with the other parts, to their injury or 
ruin, without committing any oifencc. Secession, 
like any other revolutionary act, ma}' be morally 
justified by the extremity of oppression ; but to 
call it a constitutional right is confounding the 
meaning of terms; and can be only done through 
gross error, or to deceive those who are willing 
to assert a right, but would pause before tiiey 
made a revolution, or incur the penalties conse- 
quent on a failure. 

" The dictates of a high duty oblige me solemn- 
ly to announce that you cannot succeed. The 
litn-s of the United Stales must be executed. I hare no 
discrelionnrij powers upon the siibject ; my ditti/ is 
emjiliaticidli) pronounced in the Constitution. Those 
who told you that you might peaceably prevent 
their execution deceived you; they could not 
have deceived themselves. Their object is 
DISCNION. Be not deceived by names. Disunion 
bjj armed force is treason ! Are you ready to in- 
cur its guilt "? If you are, on the heads of the 
instigators of the act be the dreadful consequences 
— on their heads be the dishonor, but on yours 
may fall the punishment. The chief magistrate 
of the nation cannot, if he would, avoid the per- 
formance of his duty. 

" Look back to what was first told you as an 
inducement to enter into this dangerous course. 
The great political truth was repeated to you, 
that you had the revolutionary right of resisting 
all laws that were palpably unconstitutional and 
intolerably oppressive ; it was added that the 
right to nullity a law rested on the same princi- 
ple, but that it was a peaceable remedy ! This 
character which was given to it made you re- 
ceive with too much confidence the assertions 
that were made of the unconstitutionality of the 
law and its o[)pressive effects. Mark, my fellow- 
citizens, that, by the admission of your leaders, 
the unconstitutionality must be palpable, or it will 
not justify either resistance or nullification ! 
What is the meaning of the word " palpable," in 
the sense in which it is here used ? That which 
is apparent to every one; that which no man of 
ordinarj- intellect will tail to perceive. Is the 
unconstitutionality of these laws of that descrip- 
tion ? Let those among your leaders who once 
approved and advocated the principle of protec- 
tive duties, answer the question ; and let them 
choose whether they will be considered as inca- 
pable, then, of [lerceiving that which must liave 
been apparent to every man of common under- 
standing, or as imposing upon your confidence, 
and endeavoring to mislead you now. In either 
case, they are unsafe guides in the perilous path 
they urge you to tread. Ponder well on this cir- 
cumstance, and you will know how to appreciate 
the exaggerated language thej' address to yoa 
The}' are not champions of liberty, emulating the 
fame of our revolutionary fathers ; nor are you 
an oppressed people, contending, as they repeat 
to you, against worse than colonial vassal- 
age." . . . 

" I adjure you, as you honor their memory ; as 
you love the cause of freedom, to which they dedi- 
cated their lives ; as you prize the peace of your 
country, the lives of its best citizens, and your 
own fair fame, — to retrace your steps. Snatch 



from the archives of your State the disorganizing 
edict of its Convention; bid its members to reas- 
semlile, and promulgate the decided expressions 
of your will to remain in the path wiiicli alone 
ctn conduct you to safety, prosperity, and honor. 
Tell tliem, that, compared to disunion, all other 
evils are Hgiit, because that brings with it an 
accniiiuldtiiiii <if all. Declare that yon will never 
take the fidd unless the star-spanr/led banner of 
yonr coiinlnj shall Jlaat oner i/on ; that you will 
not be stigmatized when dead, and dishonored 
and scorned luhile yon lice, as the authors of the 
first attack on tlie Constitution of your countr3^ 
Its deshoi/ers yon cannot be. You may disturb 
its peace ; you may interrupt the course of its 
])rosperity ; you may cloud its reputation for sta- 
bility ; but its tranquillity will be restored, its 
prosperity will return, and the stain upon its 
national character will be transferred, «/)(/ rpHia/n 
an eternal blot on the memory of t/iose who caused the 
disorder. 

'• Fellow-citizens of the United States, the 
threat of unhallowed disunion, the names of those, 
once respected, by whom it is uttered, the array 
of military force to support it, denote the ap- 
proach of a crisis in our affairs, on wliicli the con- 
tinuance of our unexampled prosperity, our 
political existence, and, perhaps, that of all free 
govermnents, may depend. The conjuncture de- 
manded a full, free, and explicit enunciation, not 
only of my intentions, but of my principles of 
action ; and, as the claim was asserted of a right 
by a State to annul the laws of the Union, and 
even to secede from it at pleasure, a frank ex- 
position of my opinions in relation to the origin 
and form of our government, and the construc- 
tion I give to the instrument by which it was 
created, seem to be proper. Having the fullest 
confidence in the justness of the le^al and consti- 
tutional opinion of my duties which has been 
ex[)ressed, I rely, with equal confidence, on your 
undivided support in my determination to exe- 
cute the laws ; to preserve the Union by all con- 
stitutional means ; to assert, if possible, b^' 
moderate but firm measures, the necessity of a 
recourse to force ; and if it be the will of Heaven 
that the recurrence of its primeval curse on man 
for the shedding of a brother's blood should fall 
upon our land, that it be not called down by any 
offensive act on the part of the United States." 

THE8E ATTEMPTS AT SECESSION, IDENTICAL IN 
SPIRIT AND DOCTRINES. 

It will be seen that this second attempt at seces- 
sion took precisely the same ground, and repeated, 
on both sides, the language of the first. On one 
siile It was claimed that the States did not con- 
stitute a nation ; were independent sovereignties, 
and could not be coerced ; on the other, that the 
people of the States did constitute a nation ; that 
so far the sovereignty of the States was lost or 
merged in it, and that it could not be attacked 
or dissolved by any party or parties to it; and 
that such an attack was treason, and carried 
with it all the penalties attached to that great 
crime. 



SOUTH CAROLINA PERSISTS. THE FORCE BILL 

PASSED, AND SECESSION ABANDONED. 

The State reiterating its intention to dissolve 
the Union, in the event of the enforcement of 
the obnoxious laws. Congress speedily passed 
what was termed the Force Bill, and General 
Jackson, with that promptitude which character- 
ized all his actions, particularly in military 
affairs, filled the forts and military posts of the 
State with troops and munitions, anchored a 
naval force off Charleston, and stood ready on 
the first act of resistance to the laws to " cry 
havoc, and let slip the dogs of war." It was 
well known that he made no secret of his in- 
tention to arrest Mr. Calhoun and all others 
implicated on the charge of high treason the 
moment any overt act was committed. He 
swore, as was his wont, "by the Eternal," that 
he would hang the first man who raised his im- 
pious hand against the Union ; " would shoot the 
first man who pulled down the American flag." 
He made no secret in after years of declaring that 
he ought to have hung Mr. Calhoun. ^ He was 
right. The seasonable example made of one man 
might have saved half a million of lives. The 
immunity accorded to Calhoun discharged every 
one who chose, from all sense of duty to his 
country and to his fellows, from all respect for 
law, and is the cause of no small part of the evils 
under which the nation is now laboring, and the 
demoralization witnessed on every side. 

While no man was more loyal, no man ever 
penetrated the designs of the secessionists more 
clearly and thoroughly than General Jackson. 
Although he put down the rebellion with a 
high hand, he plainly saw that he had only 
" scotched " the snake of secession, not killed 
it. He knew that the Tariff" was a mere pretext, 
and that slavery would be the next one as soon 
as the way could be prepared.^ He even lived 

1 "The oltl Jackson men of the inner set still speak of 
Mr. Calhoun in terms that show that they consider him 
at once the most wicked and the most despicable of 
American statesmen. He was a coward, conspirator, 
hypocrite, traitor, anil fool, say tliey. He strove, 
schemed, dreamed, and lived only for the Presidency; 
and when he despaired of reaching that office by honor- 
able means, he sought to rise upon the ruins of his coun- 
try, —thinking it better to reign in South Carolina than 
to serve in the Uinted States. General Jackson lived 
and died in this opinion. In his last sickness he declared 
that, on reflecting upon his administration, he chiefly 
regretted that he had not had John C. Calhoun ex- 
ecuted for treason. ' My country,' said the General, 
' would have sustained me in the act, and his fate 
woulil have been a warning to traitors for all time to 
come.' " — Parton's Life of Jackson, vol. iii. p. 447. 

2 " My dear Sir, — . . . I have had a laborious task 
here ; but nullification is dead, and its actors and 
coui-tiers will only be remembered by the people to be 



9 



to witness the beginning, under the administra- 
tion of Mr. I'olk, of the movement which was 
to end in an attempt to brealc up the Union 
by force, and to find himself deserted and de- 
ceived by tlie very man in whom lie had so 
confided, and who, upon his election to the pres- 
idency, turned his back upon his old patron, and 
allied himself to that section of the party whose 
disunion scheme Jackson had so earnestly and 
persistently combatted. Under Pierce the tri- 
umph of the secessionists became complete, and 
their exactions, particularly in reference to the 
extension of slavery, so intolerable, that all the 
Northern Democracy that had any idea of jus- 
tice, manliness, or shame left in them, broke 
from the party, and joining the best part of the 
old National Whigs, formed a new party, the 
Kepublican, which hurled the traitors from 
power, and saved the Nation. 

CAUSE AND PROGRESS OP THE THIRD MOVEMENT 
TOWARDS SECESSION. 

The occasions which led to the threatened 
secession of 1798-99 and to that of 1832 were 
accidental in their character. The laws com- 
plained of might be injurious or beneficial, 
depending upon the ideas or fancy of those 
afTected by them. Their expiration or repeal 
might remove all cause of complaint. Not so 
with the question of slavery, wliich was the 
cause tiiat first carried the doctrine of secession 
to its overt act. This was really the immi- 
nent one from the very foundation of the Gov- 

execrated for their wicked designs to rise and destroy 
the only good government on the globe, and that pros- 
perity and happiness which we enjoy over every other 
portion of the world. Hainan's gallows ought to be the 
fate of all such ambitious men who would involve their 
country in civil war and all the evils In its train, that 
they might reign and ride in the whirlwind, and direct 
the storm. The free people of these United States have 
spoken, and consigned these wicked demagogues to 
their proper doom. Take care of your nuUifiers: you 
have them among you Let them meet the indignant 
frowns of every man who loves his country. Tlie Tariff, 
It is now known, was a mere pretext: Us burden was on 
your coarse woollens. By the law of July, 1832, coarse 
woollen was reduceil to five per cent for the benefit of 
the South Mr. Clay's bill takes it up and classes it with 
woollens at fifty per cent, reduces it gradually down to 
twenty-five per cent, and there it remains; and Mr 
Calhoun and all the nuUifiers agree to the principle. 
The cash duties and home valuation will be equal to 
fifteen per cent more; and, after the year 1842, you pay 
on coarse woollens thirty-five per cent. If this is not 
protection, I cannot understand; and, therefore, the 
Tariff was only the pretext, and disnnl(m and a South- 
ern Confederacy the real object. Tlie next pretext wilt 
be the negro or slavery questum, 

(Signed) Andrew Jackson. 

[Ree letter to A. J. Howard, dated May 1, 1833, 
McPherson's Hist. KebelUon, p. 389.] 



ernment. It was the greatest obstacle to the 
formation of the Constitution. At that time, 
through its influence, two nations were upon 
our soil, separated by a sharp and well-defined 
line. The two were very nearly equal in num- 
bers, and not very unequal in territory and 
natural resources. Totally dissimilar in ideas 
and institutions, they naturally viewed each 
other with jealousy; or rather the South the 
North, as the latter had nothing to fear from 
the former, while the former had a great deal to 
fear from the latter. Institutions and society at 
the South rested on force, — not on right. Should 
these become dislocated from any cause, no 
matter how accidental, they miglit never be 
restored. Those of the North, resting on nat- 
ural laws, could never be imperilled by mere 
outward pressure. The North therefore freely 
committed itself to the influence and gui<lance 
of ideas, no matter the direction in which they 
might lead, confident tliey could only lead to 
good ; and eagerly welcomed, and made the 
most of every suggestion, improvement, and 
invention, which promised to increase its wealth, 
its comforts, and its power. It allied itself 
with natural laws, — with steam and electricity, 
— and by such alliance acquired more than 
human strength. The South blindfolded labor, 
cut itself off from the spirit of progress, and 
deprived itself of the use of all those contriv- 
ances and inventions which, within the mem- 
ory of man, have changed the whole face of 
society ; and as a necessary consequence it soon 
fell far behind the North, so far as numbers 
were concerned, in the race for supremacy. 
It viewed with constantly increasing dread 
that mighty power which loomed up so majes- 
tically in the distance, and wiiich might, some 
day, be directed against that institution upon 
which rested all its material interests. Con- 
scious of its impotence to compete in numbers 
and wealth, its whole energy and skill were 
directed to compensate for their want by politi- 
cal finesse, and by the control of the govern- 
ment, so as to use it as the instrument for its 
own protection. It allied itself with the great 
Democratic party, which was dominant in most 
of the Northern States, and which, almost cer- 
tain of remaining in power through the aid of its 
Southern allies, was content, for the privilege of 
the spoils, to concede any interpretation wliich 
the South might put upon the Constitution, and 
the direction and control of the party machinery. 

THE TWO-THIRDS VOTE. 

With such concessions, the Southern people 
proceeded slowly but surely in their plans of 



10 



cornmitting the Democratic party, and through 
it the country, to tlie Resolutions of 1798-99. 
In the Convention of 1835, wliich nominated 
Mr. Van Buren for the Presidency, it secured 
an immense advantage l)y the adoption of a rule 
which required a two-thirds vote for the nomina- 
tion of a candidate for the Presidency. By this 
rule, the whole form and spirit of our politi- 
cal institutions were changed. An oligarchy 
was substituted for the rule of the majority. 
This rule which has since prevailed in every na- 
tional Democratic Convention, which has become 
a cardinal principle with the party, and which 
always enables a few adroit and unscrupulous 
managers to control the Conventions, gave to 
the Southern States the power to prevent the 
nomination of any person who was not fullj' 
committed to their interests, and in whom they 
could not implicitly confide. 

THE SECESSION RESOLUTION OF 1840. 

In the Convention wliich renominated Mr. 
Van Buren in 1840 another important step was 
gained by the adoption of a resolution which 
declared : — 

" That the Federal Government is one of lim- 
iled powers, derived solely from the Constitution, 
and the grants of power shown tlierein ouglit to 
be strictly construed by all the departments and 
agents of the Government; and that it is inexpe- 
dient and dangerous to exercise doubtful consti- 
tutional powers." 

COMPLETE TRIUMPH OF THE SOUTH IN 1852. 

This resolution was repeated at the Conven- 
tions of 1844 and 1848. At the Convention of 
1852, the South accomplished its grand purpose 
by committing the whole Democratic Party to 
the doctrines, in all their length and breadth, of 
the right of secession by the adoption of a resolu- 
tion which declared, — 

" That the Demor.rntic Party will faithfully abide 
hy and uphold the principles laid down in the Ken- 
tucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798 and 1799, 
and in the Report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia 
Legislature in 1799 ; that it adopts those principles 
as constituting one of the main foundations of its 
political creed ; and is resolved to carry them out in 
thtir obvious meaning and import." 

By the adoption of tlie two-thirds rule, and the 
resolution last recited, the South secured to itself 
a position in which it could with safety remain in 
the Union, so long as the Democratic Party could 
elect a President, always to be designated by it- 
self; or could leave it so soon as it could no longer 
control its policy and action. 

The election of Mr. Pierce by an almost unani- 
mous vote in the Electoral College, only four 
States voting against him, and by an overwhelm- 
ing majority of the popular vote, was of itself 



received as full evidence of the entire acceptance 
by the North of the doctrine of the right of peace- 
able secession. It was reiterated and indorsed in 
all the States and in all the local ratifying Conven- 
ntions ; in all those held for tlie nomination of State 
ofHcers and Members of Congress ; so tliat there 
was hardly a Democrat in the whole United States 
who did not, in tlie course of the canvass, give 
repeated and emphatic " Ayes " to the secession 
doctrine. Well might Mr. Calhoun, had he lived 
till then, have exclaimed, " Now let tliy servant 
depart in jieace ! " for the defeat of the National 
Whig Party, in 1852, was a virtual annihilation 
of all etfective opposition to the complete ascend- 
ancy of the Democratic Party, wliich ruled su- 
preme till the organization of a new party, — the 
Republican, — upon the basis of Freedom, and 
its final triumph by the election of Mr. Lincoln, 
in 1860. 

MR. TILDEN COMES TO THE FRONT, AND PRO- 
CLAIMS THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. HIS LET- 
TER TO HON. WILLIAM KENT. 

As the secession resolution of 1852 was repeated 
in 1856, and by both wings of the Democratic 
Party in 1860, — that which nominated Mr. 
Douglas at Baltimore, and that which nominated 
Mr. Breckenridge at Richmond, — the South, as 
far as the Democratic Party was concerned, was 
left, upon the election of Mr. Lincoln, free to 
choose whether it would remain in the Union, or 
peaceably secede from it. It was at this crisis that 
Mr. Tilden tirst became conspicuous in political 
affairs. His zeal and activity knew no bounds. 
His eloquence flamed, in the canvass, from every 
rostrum and stump. He asserted that the South 
had as much at stake in slavery as the North had 
in freedom; that it had as much right to pollute 
the Territories with its institutions as the North 
had to adorn it with its own ; and that, unless 
the South was gratified in all its demands, it 
might and ought to retire from the Union; that 
there was no tie to hold it, no power to coerce it. 
His views were fully and carefully elaborated in 
the letter to the Hon. William Kent, already re- 
ferred to. In that letter he says : — 

" Each section is organized into States with 
complete governments, holding the power and 
wielding the sicord. They are held togetlier 
onli) by a compact of confederation. . . . The 
single, slender, conventional tie which holds the 
States in confederation has no strength compared 
with the compacted intertwining fibres which 
bind the atoms of human society into one forma- 
tion of natural growth. . . . The masters in 
political science who constructed our system pre- 
served the State Governments as bulwarks of the 
freedom of individuals and localities against op- 
pression from centralized power. They recog- 



11 



n'zcd no rijjlit of constitutional secession ; but 

TIIKY LKFT K K VOLUTION OHGAN'IZKD WHKNKVEU 
IT SHOULD HI': DKMANDUD HV TIIH PUHLIC OI'IN- 
lON OK A StATK, — LEFT IT, WUFH THK POWER 
TO SXAP THE TIE OF CONFEDERATION AS A 
NATION MIGHT BREAK A TREATY, AND TO REPEL 
COEKCION AS A NATION MIGHT REPEL INVASION. 

IMiey causeil us to depend in great measure upon 
tlie public opinion of the States, in order to main- 
tain a confederated union." 

Again (page 7) : — ■ 

" As a rule of right and duty, for the construction 
and execution of tlic Constitution, tlie theory 
maintained l)y Mr. Seward, and too e.xclusivcly 
accepted (tiiat the Government could exclude 
slavery from the Territories), is entirely falla- 
cious. No contract governing complicated trans- 
actions or relations between men, and applying 
permanently tluough the changes inevitable in 
hum.tn affairs, can be effectual if either party in- 
tended to be bound by it is at liberty to construe 
or execute its i)rovisions in a spirit of hostility to 
tiie substantial objects of those provisions, — 
expeciallij is l/iis true of a compact of confederation 
hetiveen the Slatex, where ifiere can be no common 
arbiter invested with nnthorities and powers equally 
capable with thnxe which courts possr'ss between indi- 
viduals for determining and enforcing a juat con- 
struction and execution of the instrument." 

It will- be observed that the latter part of the 
quotation reiterates almost in terms the language 
used by Mr. Madison in his report as to the 
want of a common arbiter between the States ; 
and that each State, consequently, must be the 
sole judge of the emergency in which it may be 
called upon to act. The first part is even more em- 
phatic than the secession Resolutions themselves 
in declaring, that, upon its mere motion, "a 
State may snap the tie of confederation as 
a nation might break a treaty, and repel 
coercion as a nation might eepel inva- 
SION." 

THE SOaTH SECEDES, SOUTH CAROLINA LEAD- 
ING AS IN 1832. 

These words of encouragement and instruction 
for tlie Southern States had hardly fallen from 
Mr. Tilden's lips, than they proceeded to put 
them in practice. At that time Jackson no 
longer stood with flaming sword to bar the way. 
On the sixth day of November, 1860, before the 
election of Mr. Lincoln, tiie Legislature of the 
State of South Carolina assembled, and received 
a message from the Governor, in which he ex- 
pressed his opinion that the only alternative left 
to it was secession from the Federal Union. On 
the 7th of November, the Postmaster, Collector, 
and other Federal officers in Charleston resigned 
their respective positions. On the 10th of Novem- 
ber, the Senators from that State, in Congress, 
resigned. On the 13th of November, the collec- 



tion of debts due to citizens of non-slaveholding 
States was prohibited. On the same day, Francis 
\V. Pickens was elected Governor, and appointed, 
as a Cabinet, A. G. McGrath, Secretary of State ; 
David F. Jamison, Secretary of War ; C. G. 
Menuninger, Secretary of the Treasury ; William 
W. Ilarllee, Postmaster General ; and Albert C. 
Garlington, Secretary of the Interior. On the 
17th of the same month, the ordinance of seces- 
sion was unanimously adopted by a convention 
of delegates called for that purpose. On the 21st 
of November, commissioners were appointed to 
proceed to Washington to treat for the delivery to 
tlie State of the property of the United States with- 
in its limits. On the 21th of November, the Rep- 
resentatives of tiie State in Congress resigned tlieir 
seats. And, on the 20th of December, 1850, tiie 
Governor of the State announced the repeal, by 
the people of South Carolina, of tiie ordinance 
(of the adoption of the Constitution) of May 23, 
1788, and the dissolution of the Union between 
the State of South Carolina and other States, 
under the name of the United States of America ; 
and proclaimed to the world that " the State of 
South Carolina is, as she has a right to be, a 
separate, sovereign, free, and independent State; 
and, as sucii, has the right to levy war, to con- 
clude peace, to negotiate treaties, leagues, or 
covenants, and to do all acts whatsoever right- 
fully appertaining to a free and independent 
State-" 

The history of one seceding State will do for 
all. All the Southern States, as speedily as pos- 
sible, followed the example of Soutii Carolina, 
adopting her language and acts as precedents 
for theirs ; so that, before Mr. Lincoln came to 
the Presidential Chair, nearly all of the Southern 
States had asserted, and apparently effected, the 
right of secession which Mr. Tilden proclaimed 
for them on every stump, and which he did all 
that lay in his power to forward. 

the SOUTH RIGHT IN SECEDING, ACCORDING 
TO MR. TILDEN AND THE NORTHERN DEMOC- 
RACY. 

In looking back to this time, was not the con- 
duct of the Southern States, from all the lights 
they could gather, perfectly justifiable and' 
proper? A great party, existing from the foun- 
dation of the Government and embracing a large 
majority of the population of the Free States, 
had in almost every possible form declared their 
rights to be what by the act of secession they 
assumed them to be. It was not to be expected 
tiiat they should recognize anj'duty of allegiance 
to the Republican Party, in case the latter came 
into power. It would be, in their view, the 



12 



devotion to destruction of their dearest interests. 
The Republican Party proclaimed the incom- 
patibility of Slavery with a free government ; 
that the nation must, in time, become " all free 
or all slave." Tlie South appreciated this great 
truth as well as the North. Such assumption 
rested not upon opinion, but upon natural law. 
They were content to remain in the Union so 
long as it could be made to protect slavery, and 
not a moment longer. They could judge of the 
sentiment of the North — of the Democratic 
party — only througli its leaders, — througli its 
exponents, among whom Mr. Tilden took a fore- 
most rank. These leaders were unanimous as 
to the right of the Southern States to secede ; 
and the multitude spoke only through them. 

FRANKLIN PIERCE ASSERTS THE RIGHT OF THE 
SOUTH TO SECEDE. 

Mr. Pierce, President of the United States 
from 18G2 to 1856, wrote to his old friend, Jeffer- 
son Davis, bis former Secretary of War, and the 
future President of the slave republic, under 
the date of Jan. G, 18(50, nearly a year before 
the election of Mr. Lincoln, in the following 
strain : ^ — 

" I have just had a pleasant interview with 

Mr. , whose courage and fidelity are equal 

to his learning and talents. He says he woidd 
rather fight tlie battle under you as a standard- 
bearer in 1860, tlian under the auspices of any 
other leailer. The feeling and judgment of Mr. 

is, I am confident, rapidly gaining ground. 

Our people are looking for the 'Coming Man,' 
one who is raised by all tlie elements of his char- 
acter above the atmospliere ordinarily breathed 
by politicians ; a man really formed for this 
exigency, by his ability, courage, broad states- 
manship, and patriotism. Colonel Thomas 
H. Seymour arrived here this morning, and 
expressed his views in this relation in almost 

tiie identical language used by Mr. . . . . 

I do not believe tliat our friends at the South 
have any just idea of the state of feeling, hurry- 
ing at this moment to the pitch of intense 
exasperation, between those who respect their 
political obligations and tliose who have appar- 
ently no impelling power but that which the 
fanatical passion on the subject of slaver}' im- 
parts. Without discussing tlie question of right, 
of abstract power to secede, I have never be- 
lieved that actual disruption of the Union can 
occur without blood ; and if through the 

MADNESS OF NORTHERN ABOLITIONISM, THAT 
DIRE CALAMITY MUST COME, THE FIGHTING 
WILL NOT BE ALONG MaSON AND DiXOn's 
LINE MERELY. It WILL BE WITHIN OUR OWN 
BORDERS, IN OUR OWN STREETS, BETWEEN THE 
TWO CLASSES OF CITIZENS TO WHOM I HAVE 
REFERRED. ThOSE WHO DEFY LAW, AND SCOUT 
CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATIONS, WILL, IF WE 

1 See McPherson'8 History of the Rebellion, page 391. 



EVER REACH THE ARBITRAMENT OF ARMS, FIND 
OCCUPATION ENOUGH AT HOME." . . . 

(Signed) " Franklin Pierce." 

" To Hon Jefferson Davis, Wasliington, D. C." 

BUCHANAN ON THE RIGHT OF THE SOUTH TO 
SECEDE. 

Mr. Buchanan, in his last message to the Con- 
gress of the United States, delivered on the 4th 
of December, 18G0, and after the secession of 
South Carolina, took precisely the ground of 
Mr. Tilden, that the Federal Government could 
not coerce a seceding State. — 

" The question fairly stated," said Mr. Bu- 
chanan, in the message referred to, "is: Has- 
tlie Constitution delegated to Congress the 
power to coerce a State into submission which 
is attempting to withdraw, or has actually 
withdrawn, from the Confederacy 1 If an- 
swered in the affirmative, it must be on the 
principle that the power has been conferred on 
Congress to declare and to make war against a 
State. After much serious reflection, I have 

ARRIVED AT THE CONCLUSION TH.\T NO SUCH 
POWER HAS BEEN DELEGATED TO CONGRESS 
NOR TO ANY' OTHER DEPARTMENT OF THE FED- 
ERAL Government. It is manifest, upon an 
inspection of the Constitution, that this power 
is not among the specific and enumerated powers 
granted to Congress ; and it is equally appar- 
ent that its exercise is not necessary and prop- 
er for carrying into execution any one of its 
jjowers. . . . 

"But, if we possessed this power, would it be 
wise to exercise it under existing circumstances 1 
The object, doubtless, would be to preserve the 
Union. War would not on/i/ prespiit the viost effect- 
ual means of (lestroi/inf! it, but would Jinish all hopes 
of its peace fid reconstruction . 

" The fact is, that our Union rests upon PUB- 
LIC OPINION,' and can never be cemented 

1 "With Mr. Tilden, Mr. Buchanan, and the like, 
influence is govertunent. Let us see what Washington 
said about influence being Government. 

"The picture whicli you have exhibited, and the 
accounts wliich are published of the commotions and 
temper of numerous parties in the Eastern States, pre- 
sent a state of tilings equally to be lamented and 
deprecated. They exhibit a melancholy proof of what 
our transatlantic foe has predicted; and of another 
thing, perhajis, which is still more to be regrette<l, and 
is yet more unaccountable, that mankind, when left to 
themselves, are unlit for their own government. I am 
mortified beyond expression when I view the clouds 
that have spread over the brightest morn that ever 
dawned upon any country. In a word, I am lost in 
amazement when I behold what intrigue, the interested 
views of desperate characters, ignorance, and jealousy 
of the minor part, are capable of effecting, as a scourge 
on the major part of our fellow-citizens of the Union; 
for it is hardly to be supposed, that the great body of 
the people, though they will not act, can be so short- 
sighted, or enveloped in darkness, as not to see rays of 
a distant sun through all this mist of intoxication and 
folly. 

" You talk, my good sir, of employing influence to 



13 



by the blood of its citizens, shed in civil war. 
If it cannot live in the affections of the people, it 
must one day perish. Congress possesses many 
means of preserving it by conciliation ; but tlie 
sword was not placed in their hands to preserve 
it by force. 

" In this conclusion, I shall merely call atten- 
tion to the few sentences in Mr. Madison's Justli/ 
celebrated Report in 1 71^)0, to the Lec/islature of 
Virginia. In this he ahl ij and conclnsirely defended 
the Resolutions of the preceding Legislature (of 17!>8) 
against the strictures of several other State Legislat- 
ures. These were wainli) founded upon the protest 
of the Virginia [jegislatnre against the Alien and 
Sedition Laws, as palpable and alarming itifractions 
of the Constitution. In pointing out the peaceful 
and constitutional remedies, and he referred to 
none other, to which the States were authorized 
to resort on such occasions, he concludes by 
saying tiiat the Legislatures of the States 
might have made direct representation to Con- 
gress witli .a view to obtain a rcscimling of the 
two offending acts ; or tliey might have repre- 
sented to their respective Senators in Congress 
their wisli that two-tinrds thereof would propose 
an explanatorj' amendment of the Constitution; 
or two-thirds of themselves, if such had been 
their option, might, by an application to Con- 
gress, have obtained a Convention for the same 
object." 

It will be observed that Mr. Buchanan had 
" fully adopted the Resolutions of 1798 and 
179y, and the Report of Mr. Madison ' to the 
Virginia Legislature in 1799 ; and that he 
adopted the principle contained therein as con- 
stituting one of the main foundations of the 

appease the present turmoils in Massachusetts. I know 
not wliere that influence is to be found; or, if attain- 
alile, that it would be a proper remedy for the disorders. 
Influence is xot Government. Let us have a 
government by which our lives, liberties, and prop- 
erties will be secured, or let us know the worst at once. 
Under these impression.s, ray humble opinion is, that 
there is a call for decision. Know precisely what the 
insurgents aim at. If they have real grievances, re- 
dress them if possible; or acknowledge the justice of 
them, and your inability to do it at the moment. If 
they have not, employ the force of government against 
them at once. If this is inailequate, all will be con- 
vinced that the superstructure is bad. or wants sup- 
port. To be more exposed in the eyes of the world, 
and more contemptible than we already are, is hardly 
pos.sibIe. To delay one or the other of these expedients, 
is to exasperate on the one hand, or to give contidence on 
the otlier, and will add to their numbers ; for, like 
snowballs, such bodies increase by every movement, 
unless there is something in the way to obstruct and 
crumble them before their weight is too great and 
irresistible." (See Letter to Henry Lee, Wash. Works, 
(Sparks' ed.) vol. ix., p. 203.) 

' It is proper to state, that, later in life, Mr. Madi- 
son fully recanted the doctrines of his Report, and the 
Resolutions of 1798-99. Mr. Jcfterson adhered to them 
to the last, and even repeated them in 18 .'4 with more 
emphasis than ever. Mr. Madison's recantation brought 
down upon him the most violent attacks and abuse 
from the nullilicatioa party. 



political creed of the Democratic Party, and had 
Tesolved to carry them out in their obvious 
meaning and import." And well did he carry 
them out. He folded his hands in impotent 
despair, and allowed the rebels to seize nearly 
every stronghold in the South, which were onlj' 
regained by a cost of almost infinite blood and 
treasure. 

J. s. BLACK, Buchanan's attorney-general, 

ON THE RIGHT OF THE SOUTH TO SECEDE. 

Mr. J. S. Black, Attorney-General of the 
United States under Buchanan, in reply to an 
inquiry as to the riglit of the govermnent to 
coerce the seceding States, replied in a similar 
strain. 

" If it be true," he said, " that war cannot be 
declared [as he had attempted to sl\ow in his 
letter tiiat it coidd not], nor a system of general 
liostilities be carried on by the central government 
against a State, tlien it seems to follow that an 
attempt to do so would be ipso ficto:\n expulsion 
of sucii State from tlie Union. Being treated as 
an alien and an enemy, she would be compelled 
to act accordingly. If Congress should break 
up the present Union, by unconstitutionally put- 
ting strife, and enmity, and armed hostility, be- 
tween the different sections of tiie country, 
instead of 'domestic traiK/uiltitg,' which the Con- 
stitution was meant to insure, will not all the 
States be absolved from their Federal obliga- 
tions ■? Is anj' portion of the people bound to 
contribute their money or their blood to carry 
on a contest like this? 

" If this view of the suliject be as correct as I 
think it is, then the Union must perish, utterly 
perish, at the moment when Congress shall arm 
one portion of the people against another, for 
any purpose beyond that of merely protecting 
the General Government in the essence of its 
proper constitutional functions." 

FERNANDO WOOD ON THE RIGHT OF THE SOUTH 
TO SECEDE. 

In 1861, at the outbreak of the rebellion, Mr. 
Fernando Wood was mayor of the City of New 
York. At such a crisis, no position in the United 
States could be more important to the cause of 
nationality and freedom. He not only took the 
groimd that the Union was rightfully and irrep- 
arably dissolved, but he was already forecast- 
ing the section or party with which the City of 
New York should cast its fortunes. That city 
was not only dissolved from allegiance to the 
Nation, but the State. On the 6th of May, 1861, 
he sent a message to its common council, in 
which he used the following language: — 

" It would seem the dissolution of the Fed- 
eral Union is inevitable. Having been formed 
originally on the basis of general mutual pro- 
tection, but separate local independence, — each 



14 



State reservinoc the entire and absolnte control 
of its own domestic afE;iirs, — it is eriden/li/ impos' 
sible to kfep them toqi-ther longer than ilietj deem theiil- 
xilres fuirlfi treated hji each other, or loni/er than the 
iiiterexltt, honor, and fraternitji, of the people of the sev- 
eral Slates ore satisjied. Being a government created 
hi/ OPiNio>f, its continuance is dependent upon the 
continuance of the sentiments ichich formed it. It 
cannot be preserved bg coercion, or held together by 
farce. A resort, to this lust dreaded alternative 
icould, of itself, destroy not only the government, but 
the lives and property of the people. 

" If tliese forebodinfis should be realized, and 
a separation of, the States shall occur, momen- 
tous considerations will be presented to the cor- 
porate authorities of tliis city. We must provide 
for new rehui(;ns, which will necessarily grow 
out of the new condition of jjuhlic affairs. 

" It will be not onl^' necessary for us to settle 
the relations which we shall hold to the other 
cities and States, but to establish new ones, if 
we can, with a poutiox of our own State. . . . 

" California, and her sisters of the Pacific, 
will no doubt set up an independent Republic, 
and husband their own rich mitieral resources. 
The Western States, equally rich in cereals and 
other agricultural products, will probably do the 
same. Then it may be said, ivhi/ should not New 
York City, instead of supportinij bi/ her contributions 
in revenue two-thirds the expenses of the United 
States, become also equally independent "? As a free 
city, witli but nominal duty on her imports, her 
local government could be supported without 
taxation upon her people. Thus we could live 
free from taxes, and have cheap goods, nearly 
duty free. In this she would have the whole 
and united support of tiie Southern States, as 
well as all the other States to whose interest 
and rights under the Constitution she has always 
been true." 

KODMAN M. PRICE ON THE RIGHT OF THE SOUTH 
TO SECEDE. 

In the spring of 1861, Mr. Rodman M. Price, 
who had recently been Governor of the State of 
New Jerse}', in a letter addressed to Mr. L. W. 
Burnett, of Newark, in answer to the question, 
"What ought New Jersey to do?" replied: 

" I believe the Southern Confederation perma- 
nent. The proceeding has taken place with 
foretliought and deliberation ; it is no hurried 
impulse, but an irrevocable act, based upon the 
sacred, as was supposed, equality of the States; 
ami, in my opinion, every Mave State will, in a 
short period of time, be united in one Confed- 
eracy. Before that event happens, we cannot 
act, however much we may suffer in our mate- 
rial interests. It is in that contingenc3', then, 
tliat I answer the second part of your question. 
What position for New Jersey will best accord 
with h.er interests, honor, and the patriotic in- 
stincts of her people 1 I say, emphatically, she 
would go with the South, from every wise, pru- 
dential, and patriotic reason." ^ 

1 See jMcPherson's Hist, of the Bebellion, p. 390. 



LEADERS OF THE NORTHERN DEMOCRACY RE- 
SPONSIBLE FOR SECESSION. 

The preceding examples of the position of the 
leaders of the Northern Democracy at tiiat time 
upon the subject of secession might be repeated 
without limit. The Southern people were told 
to go — were literally driven — out of the Union 
by their friends. They never would have raised 
the standard of the rebellion had they possessed 
the least idea of the real sentiment of the North. 
IIow could they get at that sentiment ? Not 
through the Republican Party, which represented 
only a small majority of the North, and which, 
if war arose, was to be confronted by the Demo- 
crats in arms on their own soil. If fifty persons 
of the class we have quoted from had told 
the Southern people that they had no right to 
secede, that the attempt would be met by armed 
force, that the days and spirit of General Jack- 
son were still remerVibered and revered, and that 
his denunciations of secession would become the 
watchwords of freedom, the South would never 
have taken the first step in rebellion. 

What an infinite number of murders, of 
deaths in battle and camp, are to be laid to the 
charge of such men as Tilden, Buchanan, Wood, 
and the old leaders of Democracy, but for 
whom" secession would have been but a dream! 
And one of these very men whose garments are 
most deeply dyed in the blood of his fellows is 
now to be made President of the United States, 
— to administer a government which he has 
spent a lifetime in attempting to undermine and 
overthrow ! 

UUCHANAN, TILDEN, AND OTHERS CONTRASTED 
WITH WASHINGTON AND JACKSON. 

When we contrast the conduct of Mr. Buchanan 
and his government, in the third attempt at se- 
cession, with that of Washington and Jackson in 
the two preceding attempts, we can get some idea 
of the depth of the abyss of degradation into 
which the leaders of the Northern democracy 
had fallen. From the proclamation of General 
Jackson, in 1832, to the last message of Buchatian, 
in 1860, was a period of only twenty-eight years. 
Yet the conduct of the actors at these two periods 
was as unlike as if there had been centuries be- 
tween them. One cannot imagine such a man 
as Jackson to belong to the same race with such 
as Buchanan, Tilden, Wood, and Franklia 
Peirce ; one so patriotic, with such consciousness 
of the magnitude and importance of the issue 
before him, not only for his own people, but for 
mankind; knowing no duty for the moment but 
the preservation of the Union ; the others so 
traitorous, so utterly lost to all sense of patriot- 



15 



ism and humanity, that they wouhl break up tlie 
government unless it could be niade the instru- 
ment of polluting our virgin soil with slavery, 
and be made to minister to ihe ambitions and pas- 
sions of those whose characters were tne product 
of this accursed system. " Our Federal Union, it 
must be preserved," was Jackson's famous toast 
which, at the time, sent such a thrill through the 
hearts of his countrymen. Had secession be- 
come an overt act, he would have put into the 
field the last num, would have fired the last shot, 
and freely given up, if need be, his own life. 
What did Washington say in the letter to Henry 
Lee, already quoted? "If they (the malcon- 
tents in Massachusetts) have real grievances, 
rtdiess them. If they have not, emploij the Juice 
of government against them at once!" Contrast 
Wasliington and Jackson with such a wretched, 
sneaking, imLeciie creature as Buchanan, who, 
wiien his trial came, sat motionless with terror, 
pleading as the excuse for his cowardice and in- 
action the Resolutions of 1798 ! Certainly, the 
great Revolution, which would have consigned 
sucli creatures to eternal obscurity, but for the 
infamy attached to them, came not a moment 
too soon. To what was that tall, which has no 
parallel in history, due 1 To slavery. The great 
reaction under the Stuarts, which seemed for a 
time to debauch all England, cannot for a mo- 
ment compare with the utter demoralization ot 
our public men in the time of Buchanan. The 
English soon became ashamed of their excesses, 
which were an accidental phase, partly due to 
the previous pressure and restraint. One reac- 
tion simply followed another. But slavery knew 
no change, and tolerated no compunctions or re- 
morse. It exacted tlie daily sacrifice upon its 
altar of the little humanity or patriotism which 
the leaders of the Northern Democracy might still 
be supposed to feel. Without moral or political 
sense on the part of our rulers, the machinery of 
government refused to move longer. The very 
existence of society was threatened; and, but for 
the rise of the Republican Party to rescue the 
Government from the hands of traitors and imbe- 
ciles, we should already be repeating the exam- 
ples of Mexico and those South American Re- 
publics where anarchy and rapine are not the 
exception, but the rule. 

MR. TILDEN's infamous RESOLUTION AT THE 
CHICAGO CONVENTION OF 1864. 

The war into which the Nation was plunged 
by Mr. Tilden and his associates went on. In 
the dark days that followed, he gave to the cause 
of freedom and the Union no aid, no sympa- 
thy, no cheer. It was an unholy cause, an un- 



righteous war. Instead of going to the front, to 
encourage and sustain our soldiers, everywhere 
imperilling their lives, and fading in the cause of 
freedom, of humanity, and of the Union, he re- 
nniined at home, far from danger, craven and 
terror-stricken, and hoarse with the cry of i'eace! 
I'eace ! He wouhl give up all for wliich so much 
life and treasure had been sacrificed, and for 
which so much had been suffered, and place the 
country still more under the feet of those who 
had poured contempt upon the Union, and upon 
the Northern Democracy, and upon none more 
than on those wlio, like Mr. Tilden, were traitors, 
not only to the supreme government, but to their 
own soil. The Convention at Chicago, in 18tj4, 
which nominated Mr. McClellan for the Presi- 
dency, again, as in 18G0, became his O[)portunity. 
As a member of the Convention, he moved for 
the appointment of a Committee on Resolutions, 
and was made one of its members. This Com- 
mittee reported, among others, the Infivuous 
Resolution, reiterating, in terms, the doctrines of 
his letter, of which the following is a copy : — 

" Resolved, That tin's Convention does explicitlif 
declare, as Ihe sense of ihe American people, tlnit, 
after four years of failure to restore the Union hj the 
experiment of war, — durimj which, under ihe pre- 
tence of milHani necessiiif, or war /xnv-r, higher than 
the Conslitulion, tlie Conslilntion itsflf has liren disre- 
garded in ererij port, and public liberty and private 
life alike trodden doirn, and the materinl prosperiti/ of 
the coiiiitrg essentiidlij impaired, — justice, hamitnittj, 
libertij, and the public welfare, demand that imim-diate 
efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a 
view to an ultimate convention of the Stales, or other 
peaceable means, to the end, that, at the earliest prac- 
tical moment, peace may be restored on the basis of 
the Federal States." 

PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION OF 18GI IK 
REFERENCE TO THIS RESOLUTION. 

The Democratic National Convention of 18G4, 
for the nomination of a candidate for the Pres- 
idency, met at Chicago, August 29. The follow- 
ing accounts of the proceedings, as far as relates 
to the matter of Resolutions or Platform, are 
copied verbatim from the Report of the same, 
transmitted to and published in the "New York 
World" of August 30 and August 31 : — 

" Mr. Tilden, of New York, moved (Aug. 29) 
that one delegate be appointed by each delega- 
tion, to report Resolutions for the consideration 
of the Convention, and that all Resolutions be re- 
ferred to said Committee without debate. Car- 
ried." 

" Mr. Guthrie, Chairman of the Committee on 
Resolutions, stated (Aug. oO) that several Reso- 
lutions offered to said Committee, yesterday, 
have been referred to a sub-Committee, and 
there was reason to believe that they would be 
ready to report this afternoon ; and, furthermore, 



16 



that there was a fair prospect of arriving at a 
harmonious conclusion." 

" Mr. Tiltlen, of New York, said that tlie Chair- 
man of the sub-Connnittee, General Jolin B. 
Weller, would probably be ready to report at 
four o'clock, P.M. ; that Mr. Vallandigbam was 
ot opinion that they would not be ready at tiiat 
hour, and tliat Mr. Guthrie hoped to be ready." 

" A motion was made to take a recess till 
four o'clock." 

" Mr. Cass moved to adjourn until to-morrow 
morning." 

Mr. Brown, of Delaware (a member of the 
Committee), said there was no differen'ce of 

OPINIO>f AMONG THE MEMBERS OF THE Co.MMIT- 

tee; nothing but a disposition, perhaps, on tiie 
part of a few to procrastinate ; and tliere was 
no good reason why they should not be ready to 
report this afternoon. 

" Mr. McKeon said he would be in favor of in- 
structing tlie Committee to report liiis afternoon. 
There was no need of furtiier delay. The senti- 
vients of the members were alike; and, if there was 
anif question at all, it was one of phraseuloijjj rather 
than of principles." 

" Mr. Vallandigbam thought it best to give 
the Committee further time, l)eing satisfied that 
by to-morrow morning they will be able to bring 
in a Report upon which all Democrats and Con- 
servatives in the country can cordially unite." 

"Several other members of the Convention said, 
that, whatever difference of opinion maij exist 
amonq its members, they are as to the phraseology of 
the Resolutions rather than to the sentiment; and, if 
tlie Convention would immeiliately take a recess, 
the Committee would be able to conclude their 
labors by four o'clock p.m." 

" A motion for recess was put and carried." 

" Upon the reassembling of the Convention, 
at four o'clock, Mr. Guthrie stated that the Com- 
mittee on Resolutions had agreed, and were now 
ready to report." 

" Mr. Cox moved the previous question." 

Some discussion followed, but 

" Mr. Cox insisted upon his motion, and, the 
previous question being ordered, the Resolutions 
were adopted, with but four dissenting votes." 

Mr. Tilden, as mover of the Committee on 
^Resolutions, was, by courtesy, entitled to the 
chairmanship. The following despatch to the 
" New York World " explains the reasons why 
Mr. Guthrie was made Chairman : — 

" Mr. Samuel J. Tilden, of New York City, 
was the platform Committee-man selected by the 
New York DeleLration, and, being the mover in 
the Convention of tlie Resolution for the appoint- 
ment of tiie Committee on the platform (each 
State naming its man), became, by presumption 
of parliamentary strength, the Chairman of the 
Committee itself The friends of Mr. Vallan- 
digbam pressed him for Chairman. Mr. Til- 
den, however, discdaiming any privilege for him- 
self, Honorable James Guthrie, of Kentucky, 
was immediately elected by a large majority." 

It will be remembered that Vallandigbam, the 



associate of Mr. Tilden on this Committee, and 
his co-worker in the Chicago Convention, was 
drummed out of the Union lines, and sent into 
the camp of liis friends, the rebels, for his noto- 
rious disloyalty, and the aid and comfort he gave 
the enemy. 

EXDORSEMENT OF THE RESOLtTTlON BY THE NEW 
YORK WORLD. 

The great theme with the " New York Worhl," 
upon the adjournment of the Convention, was its 
Resolutions or Platform ; and, on the 1st of 
September, 18G4, the following appeared in its 
columns as its leading editorial. 

" The Democratic Platform." 

" The vigorous, patriotic, and conciliatory 
declaration of principles adopted at Chicago will 
be generally acceptable to the party. Not only 
all Democrats, but all Union-loving Conserva- 
tives, no matter of what political antecedents, 
can stand upon it with honest approhalion. The 
Black Republicans carp at it, — as well they 
may. It was not made to please them ; it is 
not calculated to promote the success of their 
party. They complain that it contains no in- 
vectives against the South ; but it was by 
invectives against the South that the Union was 
destroyed. Democrats do not perceive that 
infuriated rant against the South has any ten- 
dency to bring its people to reason. The para- 
mount aim of the Democratic Party is to restore 
the Union ; tiie announcement of principles is 
intended to be such that when the South is tired 
of war, a repentant Union Party will have some 
tenable ground to stand upon. If they will 
accept of the Union, we offer them peace. If a 
controlling majority refuse, we still enable a 
minority to advocate the old Union without 
being hooted down ; and, under the continued 
pressure of the war, a Union minority in tlie 
South may soon grow to a majority. 

" Besides objecting to the platform that it does 
not denounce those whom we wish to win back 
to the Union, its Kepublican critics say it is, 
in other respects, too negative. It is positive 
enough for the Union; and positive enough in 
its condemnation of the obstacles interposed by 
this recreant administration to the restoration 
of the Union. The things it insists on lie at the 
very roots of our Federative Republican system. 
The things it denounces are the chief dangers 
which, at the present time, assail that system. 
Southern arms would be powerless if they were 
not backed by Southern hatred. While stem- 
ming the stream, we aim toclose up the fountain. 
While resisting Southern arms, we would remove 
all just causes of Southern dissatisfaction. We 
cannot ask the South, we will not ask anybody, to 
live contentedly under a government which does 
not permit free elections, ivhich violates State rights, 
which throws men into prisons without informing 
them of their offence or allowing them a trial ; 
which burdens white men with ()p|)ressive debt 
and grinding taxation to try an unconstitutional 
experiment of giving freedom to negroes. It is 



17 



the government which our fathers marie and 
adminisiereil, iis tlie Democratic Party tiirougii 
the greater part of seventy years aihninistered 
it. to which we invite the South to renew tiieir 
allegiance; ami we conceive it tiiat they will 
prefer this to the prolongation of a civil, fratri- 
cidal war. If all do not, a part will ; and no 
rational man has any hope of restoring the 
Union without tlie co-operation of a Southern 
Union Party, which may in time grow to be a 
majority. The Democratic platform is calculated 
to remo^'e the main obstacles to the formation 
of a Southern Union Party. When denuncia- 
tion of the Confederate Government comes from 
that quarter, it will be of some value ; and there 
is nothing for which the Southern people are so 
likely to denounce it, as for a refusal to make a 
reasonable peace, and relieve tiieni from their 
cruel sufferings. But a proposal for an abolition 
peace can never gain a hearing in the South. If 
the Abolition Party continue in power, the sepa- 
ration is final, alike in feeling and in fact." 

One might well suppose that Mr. Tilden 
wrote the editorial in the " World," as well as the 
Resolutions adopted by the Convention ; for a 
more insidious, sneaking, hypocritical apology 
for the South and attack upon the Union cause 
than that contained in it, was never penned. It 
was wholly in keeping with the conduct of that 
class of nuUifiers and disunionists of which Mr. 
Tilden was the appropriate exponent. How 
impotent all his plottings and machinations ! 
and how true, applied to him, the burning words 
of General Jackson to all traitors to their coun- 
try : " Its destroyers you cannot be. You may dis- 
turb its peace ; you may interrupt the course of 
its prosperity ; you may cloud its reputation for 
stability ; but its tranquility will be restored, its 
prosperity will return, and the stain upon its 
national character will be transferred, and remain 
an eternal blot on the memory of those who caused 
the disorder," 

THE SOUTH COERCED INTO THE UNION. 

The cause of the Union and of freedom at last 
triumphed. The South was subdued, coerced 
back into the Union, nationality was restored 
by the sword, and the great obstacle to a 
true union, slavery, destroyed, in spite of all 
the efforts, the predictions, and the hopes of the 
Tildens, the Woods, the Buchanans, and the 
whole of that disloyal crew in which they stood 
conspicuous. Had Jackson lived and been at 
the head of affairs, not a few of them would 
have graced the gallows, or have been compelled 
to fly for escape to foreign lands. Calhoun was 
a model of patriotism and honor compared with 
them. He made a law which might have been, 
and perhaps was, justly obnoxious, the ground 
of secession. Tilden made the maintenance 



of the most accursed system that the world has 
ever seen — "the sum of all viUanies " — his 
cause for secession, adding to his traitorous in- 
stincts an utter want of sympatiiy with op- 
pressed humanity. 

MR. TILDEN's ARRAIGNMENT OF THE REPUB- 
LICAN PARTY ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 

While Mr. Tilden proclaimed, on all occasions, 
the abstract right of the South to secede, the 
ground on which he justified the movement in 
whicli he was engaged was the conduct of the 
Republican party on the subject of slavery. He 
makes up his indictment by quotations from the 
speeches made by Mr. Seward and Mr. Lincoln 
in the canvass then pending. "The role," lie 
said, " of moral right and duty wliich may be 
fairly said to be adopted by the Republican 
party is stated by Mr. Seward at Lansing." 

"I will favor," said Mr. Seward, "as long as I 
can within the limits of constitutional action, the 
decrease and limitation of African slavery." 

" This sentiment," says Mr. Tilden, " runs 
through all Mr. Seward's speeches, and is, I think, 
the master-key to the whole argument by which 
the Republican leaders address the popular 
mind." He then proceeds to fortify his original 
charge, by giving the following quotations from 
different speeches made by Mr. Seward : — 

" We do not vote," says Mr. Seward, " against 
slavery in Virginia. We do not authorize Abra- 
ham Lincoln or the Congress of the United States 
to puss any laivs about slavery in Virginia. 

" It is by a simple rule that I have studied the 
Constitution, which rule is, that no human being, 
no race, should be kept down in their efforts to 
rise to a higher state of liberty and happiness. 

" It is true that they (the lathers) necessarily 
and wisely modified this policy of freeilom, by 
leaving it to the several States, affected as they 
were by different circumstances, to abolish sla- 
very in their own vvay and at their own pleasure, 
instead of confiding that duty to Congress. 

"But the very nature of these modifications 
fortifies my position, that the fathers knew that 
the two systems could not endure within the Union, and 
expected that within a short period slavery would 
disappear for ever. Moreover, in order that these 
modifications might not altogether defeat their 
grand design of a republic maintaining universal 
equality, they prodded that two-thirds of the States 
might amend the Constitution. 

" It remains to say on this point only one word, 
to guard against misapprehension. If these 
States are to again become universally slavehold- 
ing, I do not pretend to say with what violations 
of the Constitution that end shall be accom- 
plished. On the other hand, while I do confi- 
dently believe and hope that my country will yet 
become a land of universal freedom, I do not 
expect that it will be made so otherwise than 



18 



througfh the action of the several. States ro-operafhirj 
with the Frdenil dorernment, and all acting in strict 
conformity with their respective constitutions. 
I will favor, as long as I can, within the limits 
of constitutional action, the decrease and diminu- 
tion of African slavery in all the States." 

He quotes to tlie same effect from speeches of 
Mr. Lincoln, whose speeches, he says, are full of 
denunciations of " the further spread of slavery," 
the restriction of which will, he predicts, " place 
it where the public mind will rest in the belief 
that it is in the course of ultimate extinction." 
" We know," says he, " the opening of new 
countries tends to the perpetuation of the insti- 
tution, and so does keep men in slavery who 
would otherwise be free." " Nothing," he agaiii 
says, " will make you successful, but setting up 
a policy which shall treat the thing as wrong." 
..." This government is expressly charged 
■with the duty of providing for the general wel- 
fare. We believe that the spreading out and 
perpetuity of the institution of slavery impairs 
the general welfare." ..." To repress this 
thing, we think, is providing for the general 
welfare." 

Tlie italics, in the preceding quotations from 
Mr. Seward's speeches, are Mr. Tilden's. In 
commenting upon them, he replies : — 

" The mode provided by the Constitution for 
its own amendment, is not accurately stated by 
Mr. Seward in the above extract, but the plan of 
applying it so as to abolish slavery within the 
States is sufficiently disclosed. In a recent 
s|)eech, he proposes to absolutely exclude from 
admission into the Union all new States having 
slaves, and to apply our northern system to all 
new States; evidently looking to the niuliiplica- 
tion of the free States until their number shall 
enable them to alter the Constitution, and ' the 
grand design of a republic maintaining univer- 
sal equality ' shall be consummated, without the 
consent and in defiance of the will of the South- 
ern States." 

WISDOM AND NECESSITY OF THE REPUBLICAN 
ORGANIZATION. 

Could any sentiments be more just, humane, or 
wise than those upon which Mr. Seward and Mr. 
Lincoln proclaimed the Republican party to be 
founded ? Was it not desirable that African sla- 
very should come to an end 1 Was it not proper 
that the Constitution should be invoked for such 
an object 1 Our fathers provided for the amend- 
ment of that instrument to meet any great in- 
convenience or grievance, not sufficiently pro- 
vided against. If, in such matter, two-thirds 
of the States propose, and three-fourths ratify, 
must not the minority of one-fourth, yield ? Is 
not this a government of majorities 1 Does not 
a minority of one always have to yield, on all 



occasions, to a majority of one ? If there could 
be no progress, no change, the nation would 
surely die. An inexorable code is always death. 
All codes and all constitutions must change with 
the change of the national life. The code of the 
ten tables, the foundation of, and at one time the 
only source of, Roman law, almost wholly dis- 
appeared in the subsequent codes of the Empire. 
The English Constitution always yields to 
supreme necessity. Our Constitution Can only 
j'ield to such necessity by its formal amendment. 
This was the only way, the only mode, at the 
time, by which the question of slavery could be 
met. It was in harmony with the instrument 
itself, with the habits and thoughts of our peoj)le, 
and with that necessity of progress, consequently 
of change, inherent in our race. There was no 
suggestion of unfiiir dealing or covert design. 
Every thing was open and manly. Whether the 
object sought to be gained was wise, humane, 
and useful, I will not at this late day attempt to 
show. The demonstration transcends words. 

But Mr. Tilden joins issue, not only on the 
constitutionality, but the policy, of such an 
amendment. He would keep the negro perpetu- 
ally in chains, as a matter of principle, for the 
benefit of the white race, and as the best condi- 
tion of the black. " They (the Republicans) 
ask," he says, " Have we not a right to elect a 
President in a constitutional manner by our own 
votes ? " " You have," he replies, " in obedi- 
ence to the fundamental ideas of our Confedera- 
tion, no more moral right to do so on the basis of 
your present party organization than you have 
to do a thousand other things which the laws 
and Constitution allow, but which reason, justice, 
public policy, and fraternal sympathy, forbid." 

" The Northern States," he continues, " have 
a direct and important interest in keeping the 
natural course of their emigration into the ter- 
ritories substantially undisturbed, with freedom 
to such of their people as overflow into the terri- 
tories to establish in their new seats such systems 
of industry anil society as they have been accus- 
tomed to at home. 

" The Southern States have exactlj' the same 
interest. Both hane an indirect interest in the fm-- 
mation ofneiv Strifes, as it affects tlie balance of power 
between the two classes in the Confederation." 

Balance of power between the two classes of 
the Confederation ! What two classes 1 Slave 
and free. Then we are a nation of classes, not 
of individuals. Has it come to this, that we 
must nurture and maintain on our own soil the 
antagonisms and rivalries of the Old World, 
for which millions of men are kept constantly 
under arms, and which stand as the great 
blot upon, and the great obstacle to, the prog- 



19 



ress of humanity ? What kind of a Govern- 
ment, and what kind of a nation, is this, in 
wliich the different members are to checlcinate, 
overreach, and, if they cannot succeed in tiiis 
way, to attack and destroy each other"? Is this 
Mr. Tilden's statesm;insliip, of wliich he makes 
such boast, — tiiis the kind of Nation whose 
affairs lie is to be called upon to administer? 
God, in liis infinite mercy, forbid ! 

MR. TILDEN DECLARES THAT THE REPUBLICAN 
MOVEMENT MUST END IN UTTER FAILURE 
AND DISGRACE. 

But suppose tlie Republican party elects Mr. 
Lincoln, what then 1 "I will tell you," says Mr. 
Tilden. 

" The Southern States," to quote from his let- 
ter, " will not, by any possibility, accept the 
avowed creed of the Republican Party as the 
permanent policy of the federative government 
as to slavery, either in the States or Territo- 
ries. . . . 

" Nothing short of the recession of the Repub- 
lican party to the point of total and absolute 
non-action on the subject of slavery in the States 
and Territories could enable it to reconcile to 
itself the peojile of the South. Even then it 
would have great and fi.xed antipathies to over- 
come ; and men and parties act chiefly from 
habit. . . . 

" Will the Republican Party submit itself to 
this inevitable necessity to revolutionize its 
whole character? To attempt this change, and 
not to perish as a dominant party, is barely pos- 
sible. Not to attempt and accomplish it, and yet 
to live as an ascendant power in our Union, is 
totally impossible. . . . 

" It must travel through the entire cycle of 
retrogression, and demonstrate that its existence 
in its present form was a mistake. . . . 

" What will Mr. Lincoln do ? Can he be ex- 
pected, as President, to understand the state of 
things in any other sense than that of his own 
partisan policy ? Can he avoid the attempt to 
maintain the pfiwer of his party by the same 
means which will have acquired it? Can he 
emancipate himself from the dominion of the 
ideas, associations, and influences which will 
have accompanied him in his rise to power? 
Can lie be expected to act in any new direction 
with sufficient breadth of view and firmness of 
purpose ! 

" If he shall fail adequately to respond to these 
great exigencies, the inevitable result, as it pre- 
sents itself to my judgment, has been already 
sutficiently indicated. . . . 

" Elect Lincoln, and we invite those perils 
which we cannot measure ; we attempt in vain 
to conquer the submission of the South to an 
impracticable and intolerable policy ; our only 
hope must be, that, as President, he will abandon 
the creed, the principles, and pledges on which 
he will have been elected. . . . 

" Defeat Lincoln, and all our great interests 
and hopes are, unquestionably, safe. 



I " If thus, or in any mode, we es(;ape the perils 
of which his election will be the signal, our noble 

I ship of state will issue forth from the breakers 
now foaming around and ahead, and spring for- 
ward into the open sea in all the majesty of her 
strength and beauty." 

" But if the Providence which has hitherto 
guided and guarded our country shall at last 
abandon us to our foolish and wicked strifes, I 
behold a far different scene." 

THE SUCCESS ACHIEVED. 

Unintimidated by this fearful picture of ruin 
and woe, the Republicans did elect Mr. Lincoln 
President of the United States. The Southern 
States seceded. War followed. The rebellion 
was utterly subdued. The Union was not only 
preserved, but, by the removal of the cause of 
the rebellion, was made stronger that ever. The 
seceding States were only too glad to re-enter it, 
exclaiming like the prodigal son : " I have sinned 
against Heaven and in thy sight, and am no 
more worthy to be called thy son." The worst 
place in the Union was infinitely better than 
the best place outside of it. 

UTTER FAILURE OF ALL MR. TILDEn's PREDIC- 
TIONS. 

Not a prediction of this great philosopher and 
statesman was realized. He estimated the char- 
acter of the North by that of the degraded popu- 
lace of New York ; of the poltroons that hung 
round the purlieus of Tamman}' Hall. In his . 
view of the ordering of human affairs, God had 
no place or hand. Tammany Hall was his deity, 
— his all in all. The result was to be what 
Tammany Hall would have achieved. He wholly 
counted out of the straggle the sense of duty in 
the human soul. He knew the impotence of 
Tammany Hall for such a contest, and knew 
nothing better. Is this statesmanship ? What 
is statesmanship but the recognition of a Divine 
rule to which all human conduct must conform ; 
and an attempt to direct all life, public and pri- 
vate, according to that rule? Was it states- 
manship to plunge the States into a fratricidal 
war, — a war which wasted the fields of the South, 
decimated its people, received and inflicted a 
waste and loss which a generation cannot re- 
store ? If this is statesmanship, it is an inspira- 
tion borrowed from Satan himself. 

MR. Lincoln's statesmanship. 

Compare this statesmanship with that dis- 
played by Mr. Lincoln in his second inaugural 
message. 

" On the occasion corresponding to this four 
years ago, all thoughts were' anxiously directed 
to an impending civil war. All dreaded it; all 
sought to avert it. While the inaugural address 



20 



was being delivered from this place, devoted 
altogether to saving the Union without war, in- 
surgent agents were in tiie city seeking to de- 
sfirif/ it without war, — seeking to dissolve tiie 
Union, and divide effects by negotiation. Botii 
parties deprecated war ; but one of them would 
7iutl,-e war rather than let the nation survive ; 
and tlie other would accept war rather than let it 
perish. And the war came. 

"One-eighth of the whole population were 
colored slaves, not distributed generally over the 
Union, but localized in the southern part of it. 
These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful 
interest. All knew that this interest was, some- 
how, the cause of the war. To strengthen, per- 
petuate, and e.xtend this interest, was the object 
for which the insurgents would rend the Union, 
even by war, wiiile the Government claimed no 
right to do more than to restrict the territorial 
enlargement of it. Neither party expected for 
the war the m;tgnitude or the duration which it 
has already attained. Neither anticipated that 
the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even 
before, the conflict itself should cease. Each 
looked for an easier triumph, and a result less 
fundamental and astounding. Both read the 
same Bible, and pray to the same God ; and each 
invokes His aid against the other. It may seem 
strange that any men should dare to ask a just 
God'.s assistance in wringing their bread from 
tiie sweat of otiier men's faces ; but let us judge 
not, that we be not judged. The prayers of 
both could not be answered ; that of neither has 
been answered fully. The Almighty has his 
own purposes, ' Woe unto the world (jecause of 
offences ! for it must needs be that offences come : 
but woe unto that man by whom the offence 
Cometh ! ' If we shall suppose American 
slavery is one of those offences which, in the 
providence of God, must needs come, but which, 
having continued through His appointed time 
He now wills to remove, and that He gives to 
both North and South this terrible war, as the 
"vvoe due to those by whom the offence came, 
shall we discern therein any departure from 
those Divine attributes which the believers in a 
living God always ascribe to Him ? Fondly do 
we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty 
scourge of war may s[)eedily pass away. Yet, 
if God wills that it continue until all the wealth 
piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty 
years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until 
every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be 
paid by another drawn with the sword, as was 
said three thousand years ago, so still it must be 
snid, ' Tlie judgments of the Lord are true and 
righteous altogether.' 

" With malice toward none, with charity for 
all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to 
see the right, let us strive on to finish the work 
we are in ; to bind up the nation's wounds ; to care 
for him who shall have borne the battle ; and for 
his widow and his orphan ; to do all which may 
achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace 
among ourselves and with all nations." 

What was Mr. Lincoln's statesmanship ? The 
recognition of a Providence in human affairs, — 



of a Law, far higher than that of man's choice, i 
and an obligation, or duty, to obey this Law, no 
matter at what cost. And was there not a Prov- 
idence that sustained our country, and, through 
terrible trial and suffering, guided it at last to 
glorious victory, — not by immolating myriads 
of our fellow-beings upon the altar of an insa- 
tiable avarice and lust, but by raising and ele- 
vating them, so that, in time, they may hail, in 
the spirit in which it was proclaimed, the words 
of the Great Charter of human freedom wliich 
so thrilled the world a hundred years ago, that 
" all men have an equal right to life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness." Was there ever a 
higher statesmanship than Mr. Lincoln's, and 
did ever one reap so rich a reward ? This was a 
statesmanship to which Mr. Tilden was wholly 
blind. All Europe, echoing him, predicted the 
ignominious failure of our government in its 
contest against such apparently overwhelming 
odds, — an united South excited to the highest 
pitch of rage, allied to the traitors and mal- 
contents so numerous at the North, all seeking 
to "rend" the Union that slavery might spread 
itself over our fair domain. How were all 
these predictions falsified, the schemes of the 
conspirators brought to naught, their armies 
broken in pieces, and the Union restored upon 
the basis of equal rights to all, by Him who at 
last heard the cry of his people that for one hun- 
dred and fifty years had groaned beneath the 
oppressor's lash ! If in the future we would do 
any thing worthy a great nation, — of the hopes 
of humanity, — is Mr. Lincoln's statesmanship, 
or that of Mr. Tilden, born of Tammany Hall 
and of the lowest and most selfish instincts of our 
nature, to become our inspiration and guide 1 

Mr. Tilden, in his letter of acceptance, will 
undoubtedly be loud in denouncing the financial 
policy of the Republicans, and in vaunting his 
own, carefully avoiding the record of his politi- 
cal life. But for him and the like of him we 
should have had no war, and no financial policy 
to denoimce. Would not his statesmanship have 
been far better employed in preventing the evils 
under which the nation is now laboring, than in 
proposing his nostrums for their cure ? Can 
there be statesmanship without a nation 1 

MR. TILDEN THE MOST OBNOXIOUS PERSON IN 
THE NATION TO ALL PRINCIPLES OF ORDER 
AND GOOD GOVERNMENT. 

Certainly no man in the country is so obnoxious 
to all the principles and ideas which should, and 
do, characterize the better portion of our people, 
and especially to the Republican Party, as Mr. 
Tilden. His nomination reversed all the issues 



21 



which involved such a waste of life and treasure, 
and SHcli unsp&akable suffering. Tiie effect of 
his election would be to undo all that had, in 
principle, been accomplished by the war. It 
would be far worse than was the election of 
Polk, in whose adniininistration the secession 
element finally got full control of the Govern- 
ment; for the presidency of Tyler was an acci- 
dent, and, thougli himself a secessionist, lie had 
no following. The election of General Taylor 
was also an accident, growing out of a quarrel 
in the Democracy for tiie spoils. Even Mr. 
Tildon, in his letter, says, that no principle, only 
spoils, was involved in the movement which 
nominated Van Buren for the third time, and 
in which he took a conspicuous part. With 
Pierce, the old dynasty was restored to power by 
a majority which had no parallel in our history. 
So rapid had been the process of demoralization 
that all sections and wings of the party, North 
and South, united upon a man who, when elected, 
incarnated the slaveholders' higliest iilea. But 
the slaveholders soon tired of him, and, with that 
inconstancy which always characterizes such a 
class, remorsely " whistled him down the wind," 
when his four years had expired. Buchanan, 
whom they took in his place, was still worse. 
The rebels at the expiration of his term, regarded 
his paltering imbecility with still greater con- 
tempt tiian the Republicans. Polk, Pierce, and 
Buchanan, all illustrate the common fate of men 
who, in affairs, ignore the sentiments of human- 
ity and of justice. As a penalty, men are always 
bereft of all wisdom to act, when they have 
lost all sense of duty and obligation to a higher 
power. In Tilden is concentrated all that was 
wrong-headed, perverse, unpatriotic, and inhu- 
mane in all three of his predecessors. His elec- 
tion would fully restore that corrupt and effete 
dynasty which, in the triumph of Lincoln, was 
with such scorn and indignation hurled from 
power. 

Is the country sufficiently recovered from the 
effects of the war that it can afford to put the 
high priest of secession at the head of the Gov- 
ernment ? Suppose the Southern people should 
some day take it into their heads not to pay 
their quota of the interest or principle of the 
debt wliich was created to subdue them. What 
could Mr. Tilden do to coerce them into pay- 
ment ? Coercion with him would be the " viola- 
tion of the Constitution in every part." If a 
crisis came, would he not become as imbecile and 
emasculated as Buchanan, or Pierce, or Polk ? 
Such a crisis may speedily happen. The State 
of Alabama, soon after the war, went into the 
Northern markets, and borrowed #20,000,000 on 



her bonds, and with the money constructed 1,000 
miles of railroad, in order to "develop her re- 
sources." Tliese bonds are largely held by 
Northern savings-banks. They have all been re- 
pudiated for no other reason than it does not 
suit lier dignity or convenience to pay them ! A 
sponge has been put over the whole. In this 
case the people of the State received full con- 
sideration, — a dollar in hand for every dollar 
promised to be repaid; and in fact received five- 
fold consideration in a magnificent sj'stem of 
public works which this money served to con- 
struct. How long will such a people stand the 
debt of the United States after they get into 
power ■? Not an hour. Tiiey could, following 
Mr. Tilden's law, plead the very Constitution in 
full bar to any claim to be made upon them. 
"Coercion was without warrant in law : the con- 
tract to pay was made under duress. The State 
was unconstitutionally driven and held out of the 
Union when the debt was contracted." No action 
would hold morally or legally with such a de- 
fence. Mr. Tilden as judge would have to 
admit the defence, and give judgment accord- 
ingly. If the South are to be let off, why not 
the North 1 Admit Mr. Tilden's construction, 
and the Constitution is feebler than any rope of 
sand. 

MR. TILDEN THE POLITICAL REFORMER. 

Do reformers circulate such documents as the 
following? 

" Rooms of the Democratic State Committee, 
Oct. 27, 18G8. 

"My dear Sir, — Please at once to communi- 
cate with some reliable person in three or four 
principnl towns, and in each city of your county; 
and request him (expanses du/j/ anamjed for this 
end) to fe/efjraph to William M. Tweed, Tam- 
many Hall, at the minute of closing the 
POLLS, not waifiixj for the count, such person's esti- 
mate of tiie vote. Let the telegraph be as fol- 
lows : 'This town will show Democratic gain (or 
loss) over last year of — (number).' Or this one, 
if sufficiently certain: 'This town will give a 
Republican (or Democratic) majority of — .' 
There is, of course, an important object to be at- 
tained by a simultaneous trcinsmission at the hour of 
closing the polls, hut not lonr/ii- loaitinq. Opjiortunitif 
can he taken of the usual luilf-hour lull in telegraphic 
communication over lines he fore actual results heqin to 
he declared, and before the Associated Press absorb 
the telegraph icith returns, and interfere icith individ- 
ual messages, and give orders to watch care- 
fully THE COUNT. 

" Very truly yours, 

" Samuel J. Tilden, 

" Chairman." 

What was the object in ascertaining how the 
towns outside the city of New York had gone the 
moment the polls in them were closed 1 To 



22 



create fraudulent votes in the City of New York, 
in number sufficient to overbalance any majority 
that the country might throw. In the countrj^ 
one need not wait till the votes are counted to 
know the result. Tliere every man's preference 
is known, and freely expressed. The yearly 
canvass taken in New Hampshire, completed a 
week before election, has never failed to show 
the final result, within one thousand votes, in a 
poll of seventy-five thousand. So in the agri- 
cultural counties of the State of New York. It 
is as substantially known what the result will be 
days before the election as when it is actually 
declared. Far diiferent are the lower wards of 
the City of New York, where no one knows who 
the voters are, nor how many. Two things, how- 
ever, are always known : they will cast just as 
manj' votes as Tammany Hall dictates, and for 
just the person that Tammany Hall names ; it 
can have twenty thousand votes with the same 
ease that it can have five thousand or ten thou- 
sand. Mr. Greeley, when in the Constitutional 
Convention with Mr. Tilden, endeavored to do 
something to stop the gigantic evil of fraudulent 
voting in the City of New York. Failing in this, 
he made a personal appeal to Mr. Tilden, in an 
open letter, which appeared in the columns of the 
" Tribune," under date of Oct. 20, 1869, to put 
a stop to it. 

letter of mu. greeley to mr. tildex. 

"Letter to a Politician." 

" To Samuel J. Tilden, 
CHAIRM.1N Democratic State Committee. 

" Sir, — You hold a most responsible and influ- 
ential position in tlie councils of a great party. 
You could make that party content itself with 
the ])olling of legal votes, if you only would. In 
our late Constitutional Convention, I tried to 
erect some fresh barriers against election frauds, 
— did you? The very little that I was enabled 
to eifect in this direction I shall try to have rati- 
fied by the people at our ensuing election, — will 
yo\i 1 Mr. Tilden, you cannot escape responsi- 
bility by saying, with the guilty ]\Iacbeth, 

" ' Tliou canst not say I diil it : never shake 
Those gory locks at me.' ' 

for you were, at least, a passive accomplice in 
the giant frauds of last November. Your name 
was used, without public protest on your part, in 
circulars sowed broadcast over the State, whereof 
the manifest intent was to vinke assurance donblij 
sure that the Jhiitds here perpetrated should not he 
orerhorne In/ the honest vote of the rural districts. 
And you, not merely by silence, but by positive 
assumption, have covered those frauds with the 
mantle of your respectability. On the principle 
that ' the receiver is as bad as the thief,' you are as 
deeply implicated in them to-day as though your 
name were Tweed, O'Brien, or Oakey Hall. 
" And, though our city has since largely in- 



creased its population, the lower wards were 
quite as populous then (1840) as they are to-day, 
— several of them more so. . . . 

" Now look at the vote of /our of these Wards in 1840 
aiid 1868 respectively : — 



President, 1840. 



Four Wards. 4,793 5,521 2,840 20,283 



Governor, 1868. 



Van Suren's majority, 726 ; Hoffman's majority, 17,443. 

" Mr. Tilden, you know what this contrast at- 
tests. Right well do you comprehend the means 
whereby the vote of 1868 was thus swelled out 
of all proportions. There are not 12,000 legal vot- 
ers living in those wards to-day, though they gave 
Hoffman 17,443 majority. Had the day been of 
average length, it would doubtless have been 
swelled to at least 20,000. There was nothing 
but time needed to make it 100,000, — if so many 
had been ivanted and paid for. Now, Mr. Tilden, 
I call on you to put a stop to this business. You 
have but to walk into the sheriff's, the Mayor's, 
and the Supervisor's offices, in the City Hall 
l-'ark, and say that there must be no more of it ; 
say it so that there shall be no doubt 
THAT YOU MEAN IT, and we shall have a tolera- 
bly fair election once more. 

"Will you do it? If we Republicans are 
swindled again, as we were swindled last VaW, 
you and such as you will be responsible to God 
and iiuin for the outrage. 

" Yours, Horace Greeley. 

"New York, Oct. 20, 1869." 

Although the circulars to which Mr. Tilden's 
name was attached, had been previously pub- 
lished by the Tribune, and fully implicated 
him in the frauds charged, yet he was as 
silent under the accusation as a stone. Had 
he been innocent of the charge, and had he been 
desirous of purging the ballot-boxes, he would 
instantly have come to the front, demanded an 
investigation, and volunteered to go all lengths 
in their correction. But had he done so, he never 
would have been Governor of the State of New 
York, nor would he have had the least show for 
the Presidency. He, of all men, was the most 
interested in perpetuating them, as a means of 
climbing to political power. 

MR. TILDEN THE REFORMER OF MUNICIP.^L COR- 
RUPTION. 

Mr. Tilden the municipal reformer ! When 
was that discovery made ■? The first ever heard 
of him in that relation was after the expo- 
sure of his old friend and confidant, Tweed ; 
Tweed had acquired an enormous fortune by 
his robberies. Every man in New York was in- 
terested in making him disgorge, — the keepers 
of gambling-houses, according to their means. 



23 



equally with merchant princes, for the purpose 
of lightenina; their taxes. After the frauds of 
Tweed and his associates had been discovered, 
it became tlie fasliion to pursue sucii sort of 
game. Tildeti joined the crowd, and in the liue- 
and-cry. He, from liis connection witli the rail- 
roads, was almost as suddenly gorgced with wealtii 
as Tweed ; as a very ricli man, it was for ids in- 
terest to catcli the tliief wlio had broken into liis 
enclosure. . His spirit of reforna was precisely 
that of a Turkish Bashaw, who occasionally 
takes off tiie heads of a few of his followers and 
officials, for no other reason than that they liave 
taken to themselves more than their full share 
of the plunder. The difference between him who 
loses his head and him that keeps it is luck, — 
the accidental possession of power. Tilden's 
love of reform never went an inch beyond this. 
If he were such a reformer, there was no need to 
wait sixty years for an opportunity. There 
were plenty in the city of New York. There 
was Tammany Hall, of whicli he has so long been 
a member, which has done more to corrupt the 
politics and debauch the morals of the country 
than any ten other causes put together, slavery 
excepted. Tammany Hall a reformer ! It lias 
been seethed in corruption for a half century 
past. What are reforms "? Temperance : a miti- 
gation of social abuses by which the laboring man 
may be better fed, slieltered, and clothed ; which 
shall prevent his dwelling from being the hot- 
bed of disease ; which shall give to the children 
of the poorer classes an occasional breatli of fresh 
air and a sight of green fields ; which siiall make 
provision for those who, from any cause, are no 
longer able to care for themselves ; whicli shall 
train those for whom reforms are inaugurated, to 
take them up and carry them forward ; and, more 
than all, which shall attack in every manner pos- 
sible that evil of evils, — that curse of all curses, — 
slavery. If that be dead and gone, are there not 
still crying evils and abuses to fight against, as 
firmly intrenched, and perilous to attack, as was 
slavery? If a man saw in that monstrous wrong 
nothing to condemn ; if, on the contrary, it was 
to be encouraged to spread itself over the whole 
land ; if, for its stipport, the Government was to 
be broken up, and the fairest hope of humanity 
destroyed, — is he likel.v to have much of the spirit 
of a reformer in his blood ? When such a man 
moves, it is always from interest or policy ; never 
from sympathy with any good cause. The true 
reformer is always, in the outset, in a minority, 
— often wholly alone in battling against some 
gigantic abuse, hoary and reverend with age. 
When he has brought the world over to his side, 
he ceases, in that particular, to be the reformer. 



Show ns an instance in wliich Tilden has taken 
the reformer's first part ? If a member of Tam- 
many Hall steal any of its property, are the other 
members made reformers by seeking to recover 
it, or by punishing the thief ? If jjcrsons em- 
ployed in a gambling-house should steal and 
carry off the implements of their trade, would its 
owners be reformers for seeking to reclaim them ? 
Yet such are the precise grounds upon which 
Tilden bases all his right to be called one. It is 
as impossible that he, with Ids surroundings, 
should have been a reformer as that the Sultan 
should. Is it a reformer's instinct to crib with 
such fellows as Tweed, Field, Connolly, and 
Genet, and a host of that ilk ? How did all 
these men get their power and plunder 1 By 
playing like Mr. Tilden, upon the prejudices and 
passions of the ignorant and degraded populace 
of the city of New York. In that city, the vole 
of a great leader is very simple and easy, — to 
glory over the beauties of Democracy, and to 
stuff it with bad whiskey. Such a populace are 
the tools of Mr. Tilden's trade, — the counters 
by which he hopes to reach the highest office in 
the gift of the people. All he wants is votes ; 
and he is twice as sure of them so long as those 
who cast them remain ignorant and degraded, 
as he would be if they became intelligent and 
acted upon their own convictions. The moment 
they gain such a position, his occupation is gone, 
and his political aspirations vanish in empty air. 

IS TILDEN THE FIT BIAN FOR PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 

Is this the man to fill the seat once occupied 
by Washington and Jackson ? Imagine him in 
the Presidential Chair, with these august figures 
on either side of him. The scorn of Washington 
might be shown by his majestic silence ; but how 
would the eyes of Jackson glare with fury on the 
man who had been guilty, in a tenfold degree, if 
possible, of the crime for which he always re- 
gretted he had not hung Calhoun, and who, by 
helping to make secession a fact, had thrilled the 
chord nearest the old hero's heart. Will the 
nation honor such a man with the highest office 
in its gift ? AVill those whose lives were long 
spent amid persecution and obloquy, in the 
battle against slavery, help to raise to the Presi- 
dency him who was, of all others, the great ad- 
vocate and support of that accursed sj'stem which 
it cost so many sacrifices, and so much blood and 
treasure, to overthrow ? Are those fathers who 
sent their sons to die on the battle-field, or to re- 
turn home, if they escaped, only to drag out a 
miserable existence from the effect of wounds, or 
diseases caught in camp, to do homage to one of 



24 



the chief instruments of their bereavements, and 
of the living deatlis wliioli they still see on every 
side ■? Will the soldiers themselves, take as their 
standard-bearer the man who did more than any 
other to precipitate the rebellion ; who gave it 
all his countenance and moral support ; who, 
when they were confronting the enemy in the 
field, was threatening their rear with a still more 
dangerous eneni}', — encouragement of secession 
at the North; and who proclaimed far and wide 
that all their sacrifices and heroism had resulted 
and could result only in defeat and shame "? Will 
the young men coming forward to take upon 
themselves tiie duties and responsibilities of life 
and of public affairs, full of life and generous 
hope, take for their guide and example the man 
who has alvva^'s been allied with that element of 
American life from which our political and social 
corruptions have almost wholly sprung, and who 
has never displayed the least interest or sym- 
pathy in those questions which more deeply con- 
cerned their own welfare and that of society 7 
Is such to be the ideal, — " the coming man"? 
If so, God save the country, for which there is no 
human helj). Is there not something better for 
their inspiration and imitation than slavery, the 
Resolutions of 1798, the right of secession, or 
the drunken orgies of Tammany Hall ? Do not 
they want a government which shall throw its 
broad tegis over them, in whatever part of our 
wide domain they may happen to be placed ? If 
not, we cannot too soon cast in our lot with 
Mexico, and with those South American States, 
where anarchy is the rule, and where life is 
liardly worth the possession. Would not the 
election of Mr. Tilden, in view of the past as well 
as the future, sound a lower depth in our polit- 
ical history than has yet been touched 1 Would 



it not show that we had no government worth 
preserving; no humanity ; no political jjrinciples 
but the right of secession ; no aspirations for a 
higher and purer system and life than that which 
allies us with slavery, with all its degradation 
and crimes 1 If nothing better be in store for us, 
we cannot too soon commit ourselves to the 
downward current, if onl}' to escape the shame 
which our corruptions and demoralizations yet 
excite, but which is powerless for our rescue. 

This present year is our National Centennial 
Birthday ! Had Mr. Tilden been able, the 
eighty-fourth year of our national life would 
have been its last. Siiall we desecrate this birth- 
day, which every one is celebrating with such 
earnestness and joy, by electing as our Chief 
Magistrate a man who proclaims that our na- 
tional existence may at any moment be brought 
to an end, by the fancied interests, the caprice, 
or the whim of any one of its members ? that 
the nation of to-day may cease to be the nation 
of to-morrow 7 that its life hangs upon a single 
thread, which any State, ill-affected for the mo- 
ment, may sever ? Are we, by one act, to undo 
all that is glorious in our history, all that is valu- 
able in our acquisitions and achievements, and 
show ourselves to the world a people without 
principle, without conviction, without aspiration, 
driven hither and thither by every lawless im- 
pulse, as if to verify the predictions of the ene- 
mies of freedom that Republics are but the nur- 
series of license and insubordination, and have 
only to run their course to destroy the fairest 
hopes of humanity ? Shall we not rather crown 
the year with an utterance which shall go round 
the world to cheer the heart of every lover of 
freedom, that " the Nation, not the States, 
IS Supreme." 



THE UNION! ITS DANGERS!! 

AND HOW THEY CAN BE AVERTED. 



LETTER FROM SAMUEL J. ^ILDEN 



TO 



HON. WILLIAM KENT. 



To the Hon. William Kent: 

Dear Sir: Among my early memories of public 
affairs, during the tariff and nuUiticatiou contro- 
versies, I recollect the illustrious name of your father, 
James Kent, signed to a call for a meeting of the 
citizens of New York, to recommend to Congress 
the adoption of measures of conciliation towards our 
brethren of the South. The association recurs to 
Ely mind as often as I think of your name on the 
Iinion electoral ticket, which I consider a most wise 
and necessary endeavor to rescue our country in a 
far more perilous political conjuncture. I had no 
agency in putting it there ; but I know it represents 
no partisan interest, prejudice, or passion, no man's 
vanity or ambition, and still less any illiberal opinion 
or feeling towards natives of foreign lands who have 
chosen this for their home. It represents nothing 
less worthy or less noble than patriotic devotion to 
the country, and serious and well-considered solici- 
tude for the welfare of the hitherto fortunate people 
of these, as yet, United States. I share the senti- 
ments which animate you in the present crisis. I 
recall your desire, when last we met, that I should 
express to our citizens the convictions often avowed 
to you. An occasion has arisen which commits me 
to do so. I have chosen the form of a letter; I dedi- 
cate that letter to you. It is a testimony of my re- 
spect and affection, and that we think the same things 
concerning our country. Your interest iu the great 
theme will compensate all deficiencies in the offering. 

THE USE OF PARTIES. 

The tendency of parties is to draw the various po- 
litical elements into two divisions, and to equalize 
those divisions. The minority adopts enough of 
the ideas of the majority to attract those who are 
nearest to the line of division ; and the majority, in 
struggling to retain them, makes concessions. The 
issue is thus constantly shifting "with the waver- 
ing tide of battle," until the policy which at last 
prevails has become adjusted so as nearly to repre- 
sent th« average sense of the whole people. It is 
rare iu our political experience that the difference 
between the majority and the minority equals five 
per cent of the whole number ; extremely rare ex- 
cept in cases where the issue on which the parties 



form is made up to suit specially some locality. In 
shaping the policy which emerges from the conflict, 
the minority acts a part scarcely less important than 
the majority; and the dissentients are thus prepared 
to accept the result. 

THE PROCESS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

Such is the process by which the will of all the 
parts of the community is collected, averaged, and 
represented in the policj^ finally agreed upon. This 
is the method of self-government. 

WHY SELF-GOVERNMENT IS BEST. 

The reason why self-government is better than 
government by any one man, or by a foreign peo- 
ple, is that the policy evolved by this process is 
generally better adapted to the actual condition of 
the society on which it is to operate. Govern- 
ment by one man often fails to understand, but it 
usually defers. Government by a foreign people 
neither understands nor defers. It has no adapta- 
tion to the wants or temper of the governed. It is, 
therefore, about the worst government that can be 
imagined. 

THE FEDERATIVE SYSTEM OF LOCAL SELF-GOV- 
ERNMENT. 

Our fathers understood this truth. They had tried 
the experiment. They had been driven to revo- 
lution by George the Third, said to be the "most 
honest man in his own dominions," and by the 
genial Lord North, and had seen how cordially the 
British people sustained whatever was worst in all 
the policy of monarch and minister. They fore- 
saw that a single government, exercising all the 
powers of society over the people destined to occupy 
so vast a region as the United States, and embrac- 
ing the elements of such diversities of interest, 
industry, opinion, habits and manners, would be in- 
tolerable to bear, and impossible to continue. They, 
therefore, largely adopted the federative idea in the 
mixed system which they established ; and vesting 
only the powers appertaining to our foreign rela- 
tions and to certain specified common objects of a 
domestic nature in a federative agency, they left the 
gi'eat residuary mass of governmental functions to 
the several states. 



^ 



ANOMALOUS CHARACTER OF THE REPUBLICAN 
PARTY. 

In the practical working of tliis beautiful but 
complex system, the Republican party is a phenom- 
enon, new and startling. It is the first instance in 
which any partisan organization has been able to 
compete, with any prospect of success, for ascen- 
dancy in our federative government, without being 
national in its structure, without being composed 
of majorities — or of minorities able to compete 
effectively with majorities — in all the states of both 
great sections of the Union. The Republican party 
has no practical existence in all the fifteen southern 
states. In a few points, where the five border states 
touch the North, it has a nominal existence, but 
without any appreciable power over the opinion or 
action of those states. In the ten other states it has 
no affiliations whatever. 

THAT SECTIONAL CHARACTER INHERENT. 

This condition of things is not an accident. It is 
the result of five years of earnest discussion be- 
fore the southern people of the character and ob- 
jects of the Republican party. It is produced 
against the strongest motives which influence the 
formation of party connections. Ties of ancient 
association between most of its members, and the 
dissevered minorities of the South — fragments of 
the old whig party, anxious to beat their local 
rivals, and impelled towards alliances by the in- 
stinct of self-preservation ; common opposition to 
an existing administration ; the prospect of com- 
mon success, and of sharing in a political ascen- 
dancy, — all these potential causes united have ut- 
terly failed to draw to it any considerable numbers 
of adherents in all the South, against the pervad- 
ing, immense, overwhelming public opinion of all 
those states. 

I speak not now of causes. I simply state the 
fact. Our Republican friends will say that their 
policy is misunderstood by the southern people. 
There is undoubtedly a serious misunderstanding 
between the Republican party and the whole south- 
ern people. In what does this misunderstanding 
consist? It is easier for the Republican party to 
mistake as to the efiects of its policy on the inter- 
ests of the South, than for the whole southern peo- 
ple to mistake the real nature of that policy. 

I am apt to pay some respect to the unanimous 
opinion of great commonwealths on a question pecu- 
liarly' affecting themselves. 

REPUBLICAN ASCENDANCY IS PRACTICALLY FOR- 
EIGN GOVERNMENT. 

If such an organization as the Republican party 
should acquire complete possession of the federa- 
tive government, what sort of a system would it be ? 
To the people of the fifteen states it would be a 
f(yrei(/n govei-nment. It would be erected over them 
through the forms of their constitution ; but that 
would not affect its practical character. None of 



their citizens would have concurred in bringing 
the administration into existence. None of their 
public opinion would be represented in that admin- 
istration. 

PERILOUS SUBJECT OF THE CONTROVERSY. 

Now, what is the question between the eighteen 
northern states and the fifteen southern states of 
the confederacy, out of which arises a state of things 
so novel and so extraordinary ? 

It is a controversy, — (how far of mere opinion 
and how far operating practically, I will presently 
discuss), — it is a controversy which touches the re- 
lations of two races, being eight and a half millions 
of whites and four millions of blacks, composing 
all the population of these fifteen states ; relations 
which constitute a whole system of industry, fur- 
nishing their staple exports and their exchanges 
with us and with all the world ; relations which 
thus involve a vast interest in property — not less 
than three thousand millions of dollars — permeating 
these fifteen states ; relations which are the basis 
of the habits of families and of society in all these 
commonwealths, and of their social order, a shock 
to which is associated in the mind of the dominant 
race, with a pervading sense of danger to the life of 
every human being and the honor of every woman. 

This nature of the subject matter, out of which 
the controversy arises, explains and accounts for a 
state of parties so anomalous. Such a disorder in 
the voluntary machinery by which popular govern- 
ment is carried on, is in itself serious; but it is 
more important as a symptom of a malady in the 
body-politic, deeply seated and far more dangerous. 

SECTIONALISM OF PARTIES. 

Sectionalism of parties has hitherto never gone 
beyond a little predominance of a party in the states 
of one section and a little predominance of the other 
party in the states of another section. In that mild 
form its tendency alarmed the heroic mind of Wash- 
ington, and drew from him an impressive warning 
in his Farewell Address. Sectionalism is now 
threatening to become absolute in a predominance 
of a party in eighteen states which has no practical 
existence in fifteen states. 

Sectionalism of parties has hitherto been founded 
in differences upon subjects comparatively unim- 
portant. It touched nothing deeper than the de- 
tails of a tariff, when it called out all the patriotic 
courage and energy of Jackson to avert its dangers. 

Sectionalism is now founded upon differences of 
opinion reaching to the very structure of civil society 
in fifteen states. 

With the prudent and conservative Monroe medi- 
ating at the head of the government, and with Clay 
in the House of Representatives, exerting for pacifi- 
cation all his matchless power over assemblies, 
sectionalism, not of popular parties, but in Con- 
gress, on a question like the present, though, in the 
mitigated form of the Missouri controversy, woke 



Jefferson, as he expressed it, "like a fire-bell at 
night," from the repose of his retirement, and made 
him for the first time ahnost despair of the republic. 
Sectionalism on a question of the same nature is now 
worn into the minds of the people by five years of 
organized agitation. It has become the sole basis 
of existing party divisions, and threatens to seize all 
the powers of the government. 

Each of the elements of evil, which, of a feebler 
type, and in an incipient state, filled these heroes 
and statesmen of our revolutionary and constitu- 
tional era with apprehension, is now grown to a mag- 
nitude whicli they could never have conceived ; and 
these elements, thus grown, are conjoined into one 
monstrous malady. And yet every shallow sophister 
who can pen a line for the skimming eye of thought- 
less readers, wiser than Washington, braver than 
Jackson, more skilled in our complex government 
than Jefferson, scoffs at the danger, and scoffs at all 
who see it as insincere or timid ! 

EDUCATION OF THK PEOPLE FOR DISUNION. 

A sectional division, upon a sectional issue, of the 
great parties which organize and represent the con- 
flicting opinions of society, and which compete for 
the control of the machinery of government in a sys- 
tem of confederated states, rapidly and effectually 
educates the people for disunion. 

It is not the ordinary case of party excitements 
between citizens united in the same community. 
There, misapprehensions are removed and animosi- 
ties assuaged by mutual contact ; adversaries min- 
gle in the transactions of business and in the inter- 
course of society; meet at the same church in a 
common worship, and on a thousand occasions of 
familiar and friendly association ; they are brought 
together and kept together by common friends ; they 
are interlaced with each other b}' the numberless 
ties which spring up, and grow around, and grow 
over individuals living in one community ; they can- 
not move their houses, shops, or farms ; they cannot 
tear asunder the social ligaments which bind them 
together. 

Now imagine parties such as we have often known 
them, in their mutual misapprehensions and mutual 
injustice, and their passionate animosities ; one party 
dominating in eighteen states on one side of a geo- 
graphical line, and the other composing the whole 
people of fifteen states on the other side of that line. 
They know each other only through their excited 
imaginations. The antipathies of each are directed 
against a distant people. Each is organized into 
states, with complete governments, holding the purse 
and wielding the sword. They are held together only 
by a compact of confederation. 

FEDERATIVE SYSTEM INCREASES SUCH DANGERS. 

Will their mutual animosities be equally safe, 
equall}' hamiless as the party controversies of indi- 
viduals united in one community ? The strain, the 
shock of the collision between these organized masses, 
must be vastly greater. The single, slender, con- 



ventional tie which holds states in confederation, has 
no strength compared with the compacted, inter- 
twining fibres which bind the atoms of human society 
into one formation of natural growth. 

The masters in political science who constructed 
our system, preserved the state governments as bul- 
warks of the freedom of individuals and localities 
against oppression from centralized power. They 
recognized no right of constitutional secession, but 
they left revolution organized, whenever it should 
be demanded by the public opinion of a state ; left 
it with power to snap the tie of confederation as a 
nation might break a treaty, and to repel coercion 
as a nation might repel invasion. They caused us 
to depend, in a great measure, upon the public opin- 
ion of the states in order to maintain a confederated 
Union. They intended to make it necessary for us, 
in every reasonable extent, to respect that public 
opinion. 

How long could an organized popular agitation in 
England against France, or in France against Eng- 
land, continue without actual hostilities, especially 
if embracing a majority of the people and the gov- 
ernments y Wars have as often been produced by 
popular passions as by the policy of rulers ; but I 
venture to say that in the causes of all such wars 
during a century past, there has not been so much 
material for offence as could be found every year in 
the fulminations of a party swaying the govern- 
ments of many northern states against the entire 
social and industrial systems of fifteen of our sister 
states; — so much to repel the opinion, to alienate 
the sentiments, and to wound the pride. 

MODERATE REPUBLICANS. 

It would be doing injustice to multitudes of patri- 
otic citizens who belong to the Republican party 
to impute to them extreme opinions or intentions 
consciously hostile to the peace and safety of the 
southern states. Antagonism to the democratic 
party, habitual with many who were whigs ; misap- 
prehensions and excitement growing out of the re- 
peal of the Missouri Compromise and the Kansas 
controversy ; opposition to various incidents in the 
policy of the existing democratic Administration ; 
the desire for change and for new combinations 
which arises under a continuous ascendancy of any 
party in our country, — all these motives of political 
action have arrayed in the Republican ranks many 
men of moderate opinions, who, if they saw the real 
nature and inevitable results of a sectional party or- 
ganization, would recoil from them in just and patri- 
otic alarm. 

FALSE POSITION OF THEIR PARTY. 

It is not the purposes of such men, but the practi- 
cal attitude of their party, which constitutes the evil. 
That party is in a false position. Without the coun- 
terpoise which would be the effect of its affiliation 
with the opposition element in the southern states, 
freed from any such necessity for moderation, com- 



peting for popular favor in the North alone, and, 
therefore, addressing itself exclusively to northern 
opinions, prejudices and passions, it has been steadily- 
drifting into a more vehement, a less discriminating 
and a blinder antagonism to the South, and yielding 
to the dominion of extreme ideas and of the more vio- 
lent elements which it contains. Without any thing 
to represent it in the southern states, it has no 
means to resist the inevitable tendency there to im- 
pute to it purposes even beyond those which it really 
entertains ; and no means of inspiring confidence, 
allaying apprehension, or conciliating opinion among 
the masses in the localities of the South. 

THE NECESSARY CONSEQUENCES. 

It is thus that the divergence between these ma- 
jorities of the North on the one side, and the whole 
people of the South on the other, has been for 3'ears 
increasing. Extremes on the one side provoke ex- 
tremes on the other. Alienation, mutual distrust, 
misapprehension of each other's motives and objects, 
animosities, and, above all and worse than all, convic- 
tions and principles which induce each to dictate im- 
practicable conditions of reconciliation, are setting 
deeper and deeper into the masses under the influence 
of systematic sectional agitation. 

It would be strange if this immense and powerful 
popular machinery swaying the state governments of 
both sections, which has been employed for five years 
in dividing the country geographically, had not 
cloven down between the masses of the people in the 
two sections a chasm deeper and wider and more 
difiicult to close up than ever existed before. 

CHRONIC SECTIONALISM IS INEVITABLE DISUNION. 

If such a division of parties, founded upon such 
antagonism of opinions, habits, and interests involv- 
ing the systems of industry and of society, existing 
at the North and in the South, becomes chronic, its 
natural and inevitable result must be disunion. The 
cord of fraternal sentiment and common opinion 
which holds the sections together, cannot, by any 
possibility, endure the gradual, steady wear of these 
unceasing conflicts, and the ever-augmenting violence 
of the shock of repeated collisions between the popu- 
lar masses which the two sections embody. 

This is, to me, no new opinion. I communicated 
it in writing in 1855, to a gentleman now eminent 
in the Republican party, before he engaged in its 
formation ; and expressed the conviction that the 
evil would have reached a dangerous, if not fatal 
point of culmination when a purely northern party 
should have found itself able to elect a President on a 
pitched battle with the southern states over ques- 
tions and ideas which thrill to the very life-centres of 
southern society. 

SUMMARY OF THE DISCUSSION THUS FAR. 

I have now considered the anomalous nature of the 
Republican party as an organization ; I have shown 
how, as it assimies the powers of our federative sys- 



tem, it subverts the essential character of that sys- 
tem, and erects in practice a foreign government 
over fifteen states. I have pointed out how, in the 
mean time, such a division of parties is educating the 
people for disunion ; in what manner it ripens its 
fatal fruits, and to what maturity they have already 
approached. I have indicated the subject of the con- 
troversy between the northern majorities and the 
southern people, out of which this condition of things 
arises ; demonstrated how near it is to the very struct- 
ure of civil, social, and industrial life in all the 
South ; and inferred that it is only such a subject of 
controversy that could create such a state of parties ; 
and conversely, that such a state of parties, on such a 
subject, is a concentrated evil and an accumulated 
danger. I have invoked the maxims deduced from 
the experience of all mankind, and our own accepted 
theories of self-government to justifying me in stat- 
ing the immense presumption, that the southern peo- 
ple understand the effects upon themselves of the 
Republican organization and policy better than the 
Republicans do; and that, at all events, the nearly 
unanimous judgment of fifteen great communities 
ought to be respected; that their judgment, as to 
the establishment over them of any affirmative meas- 
ures exclusively affecting themselves, ought to be 
conclusive. 

It remains to analyze the avowed proposition of 
the Republican party to the people of the South. 

Are the southern people to be convinced, or is 
the Republican party to recede from its principles, 
its policy, and its organization ? In what manner is 
a reconciliation to be effected, and upon what terms V 
What ought to be the basis of a reconciliation V Will 
the Republican party make it voluntarily, or must 
the people of the North cast off the Republican party 
as an element of disease and discord, and thus restore 
harmony and health to our federative system V 

If the Republican party entrenches itself in the 
Presidency, will the constitution of our body politic \ 
await the tardy remedy, or will it perish in the pro- 
cess towards restoration ? 

These are grave questions. Let us proceed to 
consider them. ) 

CHARACTER, AIMS, AND POLICY OF THE REPUBLI- 
CAN PARTY. 

What is the character of the Republican party ? 
What are the aims? What is to be its practical 
policy, in case it gains possession of the government ? 

ORGANIZED AGITATION AGAINST SLAVERY. 

1. It is an organized agitation on the general ques- 
tion of slavery, mainly irrespective of the practical 
application of its conclusions to any proposed meas- 
ure of legislation or administration by the federal 
government. It is not easy to define the exact limit 
where the liberty of philosophical speculation or ab- 
stract discussion ends, and an offence against good 
neighborhood — whether of individuals, families, or 
states — begins. But it is verj' clear that the Repub- 



lican party has passed that boundary ; for an organized 
agitation by a majority of one community, including 
its government, against the social or industrial system 
of a neighboring and friendly commuiiitj' is an offence 
wliich leads to alienation and hostilit}', if not to 
actual war. Even if we assume that the exclusion of 
slavery from the territories is within the legitimate 
sphere of the federal government, it cannot be pre- 
tended that the general character of the discussion 
kept up by the Republican party is subordinate to 
that end. Indeed, the territorial aspect of the con- 
troversy has almost entirely disappeared. Instead of 
inquiring how far it is the right and the duty of the 
northern states through the federal government to 
give effect on the territorial question to the general 
ideas they might be assumed to entertain, the orators 
and journals, which represent the Kepublican party 
are almost exclusively occupied in exciting the hos- 
tility' of the people against slavery as a system, 
irrespective of the territories, and often the intention 
is avowed to act by indirect means upon slavery 
within the states. 

" MORAL StTASION " THROUGH OUR FEDERATIVE 
GOVERNMENT. 

Among those means is a gigantic system of "moral 
suasion," as Mr. Seward calls it in one of his recent 
speeches, moral coercion in fact, by wliich it shall 
propagate its ideas among the people of the southern 
states against their present social and industrial 
S}Stems, through permanent party organizations dom- 
inating in the northern states, swaying the northern 
governments, and finally through the federative 
government of all the states. Mr. Seward does not 
say whether the postmasters and other officers of the 
federative government are to be made little centres 
of antislavery opinion; but he seems to think that 
all the usual methods by which parties act may be 
properly applied to the end. Now the states are as 
sovereign, with respect to slavery within their own 
borders as any foreign nation. If we were by 
"moral suasion" to attempt to apply our ideas in 
respect to the only rightful form of government, or in 
respect to the freedom of the press to the French 
people, through our minister at Paris, he would be 
dismissed, and if found to be acting under our in- 
structions, we should become objects of just hostilities 
on the part of the French government. A similar 
experiment in the southern states would probably re- 
sult in the expulsion of the federal officials, if not in 
a civil war. According to the principles of public law 
and in all moral aspects, such interference in the in- 
ternal affairs of a state would be more inexcusable 
when she were united with us in a confederation, than 
if she were in all respects a foreign nation. And the 
difficulty of the case is, that even if the endeavor 
were fairly made to confine the agitation to the ter- 
ritorial question, it would be impossible so to con- 
fine it in practice, on the basis of opinion which 
characterizes the Republican party, and gives it all 
its vitality. 



FALSE RULE OF LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION 
BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 

2. The rule of moral right and duty which, I think, 
may be fairly said to be generally adopted by the 
Republican party, is stated by Mr. Seward, in his 
speech at Lansing: " I will favor, as long as I can," 
said he, "within the limits of constitutional action, 
the decrease and diminution of African slavery in all 
the states." 

THEORY OF THIS RULE. 

The theory is, that slavery is a wrong, without ref- 
erence to any condition of time, place, or circum- 
stances ; that the limit of our moral responsibility for 
the wrong is fixed exactly according to our legal and 
constitutional power to remove it ; that it is, therefore, 
not only our right but our duty to exert whatever 
legal or constitutional power we possess for its re- 
moval. 

This theory runs through all Mr. Seward's speeches ; 
and is, I think, the master-key to the whole argu- 
ment by which the Republican leaders address the 
popular mind. 

ITS PRACTICE. 

The practical application and necessary conse- 
quences of this theory, can be gleaned from the 
speeches of Mr. Seward. 

INDIRECT ACTION ON SLAVERY WITHIN THE STATES. 

In his recent speech at Dubuque, he states what it 
is not proposed to do, in this guarded manner: "We 
do not vote against slavery in Virginia. We do not 
authorize Abraham Lincoln or the Congress of the 
United States to pass any laios about slavery in 
Virginia." Observe how carefully his language is 
framed not to disclaim any of the forms of indirect 
action upon slavery within the states. 

CHANGING THE CONSTITUTION BY EXCLUDING ONE 
AND ADMITTING THE OTHER CLASS OF STATES. 

In his Rochester speech he thus indicates the con- 
stitutional mode of abolishing slavery within the 
states : 

"It is true that they (the fathers) necessarily and 
wisely modified this policy of freedom, by leaving it 
to the several states, affected as they were by diifer- 
ent circumstances, to abolish slavery in their own 
way and at their own pleasure instead of confiding 
that duty to Congress. 

****** 

" But the very nature of these modifications fortifies 
my position that the fathers knew that the two systems 
could not endure within the Union, and expected that 
within a short period slavery would disappear for- 
ever. Moreover, in order that these modifications 
might not altogether defeat their grand design of a 
republic maintaining universal equality, they provided 
that two-thirds of the states mir/ht amend the consti- 
tution. 

" It remains to say on this point only one word, to 
guard against misapprehension. If these states are 
to again become universally slaveholding, I do not 



pretend to say with what violations of the constitu- 
tion that end shall be accomplished. On the other 
hand, wliile I do confidently believe and hope that 
my country will yet become a land of universal free- 
dom, I do not expect that it will be made so otherwise 
than through the action of the several states co-operat- 
ing wi/h the federal (jovernment, and all acting in 
strict conformity with their respective constitutions." 
The mode provided by the constitution for its own 
amendment, is not accurately stated by Mr. Seward 
in the above extract, but the plan of applying it so 
as to abolish slaver}' within the states is sufficiently 
disclosed. In a recent speech, he proposes to abso- 
lutely exclude from admission into the Union all 
new states having slaves, and to apply our northern 
system to all new states ; evidently looking to the 
multiplication of the free states until their number 
shall enable them to alter the constitution and " the 
grand design of a republic maintaining universal 
equality" shall be consummated, without the consent 
and in defiance of the will of the southern states. 

REORGANIZING THE SUPREME COURT. 

In a speech in the Senate he proposed to reorganize 
the Supreme Court of the United States for the pur- 
pose of reversing the decision upon the relative rights 
of the states and their citizens on the question of 
slavery. 

DISBANDING THE ARMY AND NAVY. 

And at Lansing he declared that it was his " duty 
as a patriot" to go for having "no army and navy " 
of the Union, because their "whole object" was 
"that slaves may not escape from the slave states 
into the free, and that freed or emancipated negroes 
in the free states may not enter and introduce civil 
war into the slave states, and because that, if we 
provoke a foreign enemy, the southern frontier is ex- 
posed to invasion from England, France, and Spain." 
The constitution not only contains an express covenant 
for the protection of each of the states against " do- 
mestic violence " and foreign "invasion," but in its 
preamble declares that to " ensure domestic tran- 
(|uillity" and "provide for the common defence" 
were among the very objects for which it was insti- 
tuted. And yet Mr. Seward avows the startling doc- 
trine, that for the very reason that the army and navy 
are used to carry out these objects in respect to the 
southern states they ought to be disbanded. 

BIDDING REVOLUTION "GOOD SPEED." 

In his recent speech at Madison, he declares that 
" it is by a simple rule that he has studied the con- 
stitution," which rule is that "no human being," 
" no race," should be "kept down in their efforts to 
rise to a higher state of liberty and happiness; " but 
that if any such " would rise, I say to them, in God's 
name, good speed." 

THE PRACTICAL RESULT. 

The residt he stated in a speech at an early day : 
" It (slavery) can and must be abolished, and you 
and I must do it." 



OBJECT OF TEACHING THE DOCTPINE OF THE " IRRE- 
PRESSIBLE CONFLICT." 

And in order to incite the northern mind to a crusade 
against slavery in the states, as well as the territories, 
to blind the eye of the North and still its conscience 
to the aggressive character of the movement against 
the social and industrial systems of our sister states, 
violating alike the express compacts of the constitu- 
tion and the principles of public law which define the 
relations of independent sovereignties, he adopts the 
fallacious theory invented by Mr. Lincoln, of the " irre- 
pressible conflict." He teaches not as a doctrine of 
abstract philosophy, but a practical necessity, that the 
northern states cannot preserve their own social and 
industrial systems without overthrowing those of the 
southern states ; that "the rye fields and wheat fields 
of Massachusetts and New York must be surrendered 
by their farmers to slave culture and to the produc- 
tion of slaves, and Boston and New York become once 
more markets for trade in the bodies and souls of 
men," or, " the cotton and rice fields of South Carolina 
and the sugar plantations of Louisiana" be "tilled by 
free labor." Having thus invested the crusade with 
all the sanctions of the sacred necessity of self-defence, 
he leads it forward, by the methods and means which 
I have exhibited, through artful evasions of the forms 
of the constitution to violate the substance of its 
obligations. 

PREVALENCE OF IMPRACTICABLE IDEAS. 

I certainly do not impute to every member of the 
Republican party such sentiments. On the contrary, 
there are large numbers of patriotic citizens attached to 
that party wholly incapable of adopting theories so 
wild, so fanatical, so revolutionary; and I admit, that 
even the mass of those who assent to them do not see 
their true character, or the inevitable disasters of at- 
tempting to reduce them to practice. 

But I cannot fail to see, in the mind of every second 
man I meet among the Republicans, the prevalence 
of ideas upon which it is impracticable to administer 
a confederated government. I lament it as a conse- 
quence of a division of parties, in which the northern 
people know neither the subject of the controversy 
nor its true bearing, nor their antagonists, except 
through their imaginations. 

MR. SEWARD'S REL.^TION TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

Mr. Seward represents the greatest state of the 
Union in the Senate ; is of mature age and experi- 
ence ; and has more partisans and more practical 
power over the Republican mind and the Republican 
organization than any other one of its members. He 
is its representative man. He has recently traversed 
the northern states, with social revolution dropping 
from his lips at every step, amid the acclamations of 
the masses of the Republican party. And yet men 
are found who ascribe to the prejudices of the South, 
or to misrepresentations of the aims of the Republi- 
can partv, the complete alienation and repulsion of 
the uanimous public opinion of the southern people, 
which undeniably exists. 



ORIGIN OF THESE FALSE SYSTEMS. 

The origin of all tliis evil is in the rule of conduct 
to which I iiave adverted, as generally adopted by the 
Republicans, and indeed to a considerable extent ac- 
cepted b}' the northern mind. 

KULE FOR CONSTRUING AND EXECUTING THE CON- 
STITUTION. 

As a rule of right and duty for the construction 
and execution of the constitution, the theory main- 
tained by Mr. Seward, and too extensively accepted, 
is entirely fallacious. No contract governing com- 
plicated transactions or relations between men, and 
applying permanently through the changes inevitable 
in human affairs, can be effectual if either party in- 
tended to be bound by it is at liberty to construe or 
execute its provisions in a spirit of hostility to the 
substantial objects of these provisions. Especially is 
this true of a compact of confederation between the 
states, where there can be no common arbiter invested 
•with authorities and powers equally capable with 
those which courts possess between individuals for 
determining and enforcing a just construction and 
execution of the instrument. Mr. Seward sees, the 
public mind of the South sees more clearly, that an 
institution of the peculiar nature of slavery cannot 
long exist within the states if the powers of the fed- 
erative government are to be swayed in active hos- 
tility to it, even though no violation of the express 
letter of the constitution be perpetrated; even though 
the hostile action be confined to a systematic use of 
the powers of the government for the purposes of 
its destruction, and to a systematic abdication of the 
powers of protection when thej' incidentally affect 
slavery in operating upon the communities in which 
it exists. 

CRITERION OF MORAL RIGHT AND DUTY. 

The rule to which I have adverted is equally falla- 
cious as a criterion of moral right and duty. No man 
La.s the right or duty to impose his own convictions 
upon others, or to govern his own conduct in his rela- 
tions with others, by his exclusive opinion or will. 
His right and duty in such cases are not absolute, but 
qualified. In practice, no man can get along in his 
relations with others, even with those who are most 
subject to him, if he exercise his full legal or consti- 
tutional powers absolutely according to his individual 
opinion or will. No husband can live with his wife, 
no father with his children, no partner with his asso- 
ciates, on such terms. 

DUTY OF SELF-KESTRAINT. 

Now the idea I wish to inculcate is, that there is no 
moral wrong in our accepting the self-restraint upon 
the exercise of even our undoubted legal and consti- 
tutional powers which the experience of mankind has 
shown to be wise. 

It is upon the same idea, applied to our physical 
powers, that the public law of the world, which for- 
bids the intervention of one state in the purely inter- 
nal affairs of another, is built up. 



IDEA OF SELF-RESTRAINT THE BASIS OF OUR FED- 
ERATIVE SYSTEM. 

When our fathers entered upon the work of forming 
the Union, they found the states existing as indepen- 
dent sovereignties. Thej* might have constructed a 
system which would have been imperial in its charac- 
ter, subjecting all the internal affairs of the states to 
the dominion of a centralized government. Or they 
might have made the mixed system which they estab- 
lished imperial in respect to the subject of slaverj' 
within the states. Or, if failing to obtain the consent 
of any state to such a system, they might have ex- 
cluded that state from the Union. 

NOT WRONG, BUT WISE AND RIGHT. 

Did they commit a moral wrong in choosing to 
leave the whole subject of slavery within each state 
to its separate judgment? I think that they did not. 
The decision which they made accorded with the 
whole theory on which they constructed the govern- 
ment. It was wise in itself. It was right. If the 
wisdom collected from the experience of the world in 
regard to government is to be relied on, the distribu- 
tion of powers they adopted was the best, the deposi- 
tory of the trust of working out the problem of the 
superior and subject races within the states, if not 
perfect, was the safest which the nature of the case 
admitted. It is binding upon us not merely by the 
force of compact, not merely by a great principle 
of public law, but by its intrinsic wisdom and right- 
eousness. 

OBJECTION ANSWERED. 

It is no answer to this reasoning to say that the 
dominant race in a state where slavery exists is upon 
this question an interested party as well as the judge. 
Such is the position of the governing power in every 
human society ; and yet so wonderful are the laws of 
mutual action and influence between the parts of the 
social mechanism that it has generally been able to 
work out the welfare of all better than foreign gov- 
ernment, and better than propagandism of any system 
by foreign force. The selfishness of the one, modi- 
fied by so many restraints, is rarely so dangerous as 
the inexpert ignorance and impracticable experiments 
of the others. I cannot think it a misfortune that, 
according to the system of our fathers, no appeal lies 
from the white man of the states where slavery exists 
to the white man of the other states. It is not a 
moral wrong to construe and execute the provisions 
of the constitution affecting this question, and even 
to extend and apply them to incidental questions not 
foreseen at its formation, in accordance with the plan, 
and in the spirit of comprehensive wisdom in which 
that instrument was conceived. 

THE TERRITORIAL QUESTION. 

3. I come now to the position of the Republican 
party on the territorial question. I understand that 
position to be, that it is the r'ght and duty of the 
people, through the federative government, to effect- 
ually prevent the extension of slavery beyond the 



geographical area in vrhich it now exists within the 
present states. 

The Chicago platform applies the doctrine that all 
men are entitled to liberty, to the black race, without 
any qualification of place, time, or circumstances ; and 
applies the principle of restriction to all the territo- 
ries. Mr. Seward has lately restated the position of 
the Republican party, in these words: "Our responsi- 
bilities are limited to the states yet to come into the 
Union, and we will apply our system to them." 

Mr. Lincoln's speeches are full of denunciations of 
"the further spread of slavery," the restriction of 
which will, he predicts, "place it where the public 
mind will rest in the belief that it is in the course of 
ultimate extinction." "We know," says he, "the 
opening of new countries tends to the perpetuation of 
the institution, and so does keep men in slavery who 
would otherwise be free." "Nothing," he again 
says, "will make you successful, but setting up a 
policy which shall treat the thing as wrong." . . . 
" This government is expressly charged with the duty 
of providing for the general welfare. We believe 
that the spreading out and perpetuity of the institu- 
tion of slavery impairs the general welfare." . . . 

" To repress this thing, we think, is providing for 
the general welfare." 

THEORY ON WHICH ABSOLUTE EESTEICTION IS 
FOUNDED. 

The philosophical idea on which the policy of re- 
striction rests is, that if the system of slavery be 
absolutely confined to a fixed geographical area, the 
emigration of the white race who wish to retain the 
system, and of the black race held under it, will be 
restrained ; that both races will go on increasing by 
births ; that the population within that area becom- 
ing more and more dense, the cost of subsisting the 
slave will press with constantly augmenting force 
upon the value of his labor, until the master ceases to 
derive any surplus, and voluntarily emancipates the 
slave. 

This idea is sometimes expressed in the affirmative 
sense of extinguishing slavery ; and sometimes in 
the negative sense of refusing to perpetuate it ; but 
the means and the results are identical in both 
cases. 

OBJECT OF THE POUCY AND MODE OF ITS EN- 
tORCEMENT. 

The policy of restviction aims to control, directly 
and immediately, the distribution between the occu- 
pied and unoccupied portions of the continent belong- 
ing to us, of the eight and a half millions of whites 
and four millions of blacks now coexisting in the 
fifteen southern states and of all their descendants, so 
long as the present relation between the two races 
shall continue. It aims indirectly and eventually to 
subvert the relation which now exists between the two 
races. The Republican party proposes to establish 
this policy bj' a combination of majorities of the peo- 
ple of the northern states, acting through the federal 
government, against the unanimous opposition of the 



whole people of the fifteen southern states. The judg- 
ment of the northern states, pure and simple, ad- 
versely to the judgment of the southern states, is to 
take upon itself, and prescribe and enforce its own 
solution of this great problem of races, their distribu- 
tion and relations, which reaches to the very social 
life-centres of fifteen southern stales. 

A MERE ABSTRACTION AT PRESENT. 

It is true that, at present, so far as the territories 
are concerned, the policy is a mere theory. There is 
no territory whose destiny is practically in dispute. 
The area within the fifteen southern states is more 
than the growth and expansion of the social and in- 
dustrial systems of the south can at present occupy. 

Might not the North rest in the hope that the next 
generation, when it should have occasion to act prac- 
tically, would do so with larger experience and greater 
wisdom? Might it not wait and see? Is it necessary 
for us to seize the powers of the government to estab- 
lish and enforce any policy so far in advance — espe- 
cially, by the dangerous machinery of a purely 
northern party creating in practice a purely northern 
government — more especially at the hazard of scat- 
tering in ruins the glorious fabric of civil liberty 
reared by our fathers? 

THE THEORY ANALYZED. 

But let us confront this theory as a permanent and 
final policy. Let us analyze it, and see what would 
be its future value, and whether it can ever become 
established. 

NATURAL AND MATERIAL LAWS. 

Before entering on that discussion, I pause to trace 
the natural and material laws which are working out 
the distribution of races on our own portion of this 
continent, and shaping the social and industrial sys- 
tems of the new states. 

Whoever, will study the course of emigration from 
the old states to the unsettled lands of the West, will 
find that in the main it follows the adaptations of the 
new region to the industrial, domestic, and social habi- 
tudes of those who seek to better their condition by 
the use of cheaper and richer soils. The current of 
northern emigration does not deviate largely from cer- 
tain parallels of latitude. The current of southern 
emigration, tending in the same general direction, 
spreads out, perhaps deflects, to the southwest. The 
volume of the northern current is from twice to three 
times as large as that of the southern current ; and, 
therefore, tends to press southwardly the line where 
the two touch each other. Geographical causes favor 
this result. As you reach the eastern border of 
Texas, the Gulf shore turns towards the South. As 
you pass Missouri, you begin to ascend to the more 
austere climates of the great slope of the Rocky 
Mountains. 

Material causes intervene to turn a portion of the 
southern emigration to the southwest and also to sep- 
arate the element of slavery and to carry that to tlie 
southwest. 



SLAVERY WITHDRAWS FROM THE TRACK OF NORTH- 
ERN EMIGRATION. 

The result is that slavery has no tendency to ex- 
tend itself in or towards the track of nortiiern settlers. 
On the contrarj', it is withdrawing and moving 
towards the tropics. Obvious before, this law has 
been rendered more conspicuous and more potential 
to mature its fruits rapidly, by the remarkable 
events which have characterized the last ten or fif- 
teen years. 

MATERIAL CAUSES ACCELERATE. 

The great and steady influx of gold, acting upon 
the circulating medium and the systems of credit, has, 
to an extraordinary degree, stimulated production 
and consumption throughout all Christendom. One 
effect is seen in the transcendent growth of the for- 
eign trade of all the civilized nations. Another is in 
an improvement of the physical condition of the 
masses, and an enlargement of their command over 
the necessaries, comforts, and even luxuries of life, 
greater, perhaps, than they have hitherto attained in 
any one century. 

Cotton has been found to be the cheapest and most 
convenient material for human clothing; which, after 
food and shelter, is the first object of the enlarged 
means of expenditure by the masses. The spindle 
and the loom could be multiplied to keep pace with 
the augmenting demand ; but negro hands to cultivate 
the cotton fields could not. They must wait the slow 
course of nature, or be diverted from other employ- 
ments ; and even both resources have been thus far 
insufficient. Through the war in the Crimea and the 
war in Italy, through the panic of 1854 and the revul- 
sion of 1857, cotton has, in the main, held the even 
tenor of its way, in a range of high prices ; while 
iron, coal, lumber, sugar, and breadstuffs have under- 
gone extreme and violent fluctuations. Cotton has 
been unceasinglj'- out-bidding other employments for 
negro hands. It has within ten years doubled, proba- 
bly more than doubled, the market value of all such 
labor. A man who to-day employs slaves in raising 
wheat or corn on the southern bank of the Ohio, uses 
labor at least twice as costly as it was ten years ago. 
His neighbor on the northern bank finds the moderate 
advance in free labor resulting from the increase in 
general prices, compensated by improved machinery ; 
and can produce wheat as cheaply as ten years ago. 

Cotton is struggling hard to translate the black race 
held in slavery to the seats of its own and kindred 
cultures. Family and social habits, an honorable 
sentiment against selling dependants towards whom 
the worth and piety of the South consider themselves 
as trustees, resists ; but the changes of life are inevi- 
table ; and the social laws at last prevail, as the un- 
ceasing current of a stream outlasts the strokes of 
the swimmer. I see every day testimonies of the ac- 
tual working of these tendencies. I read, not long 
ago, in the Evening Pust, an extract from the St. 
Louis Democrat, stating that one hundred slaves daily 



left St. Louis for the South. That statement may 
have been inaccurate as a matter of detail ; but the 
general fact cannot be questioned. 

RESTRICTION IN THE TRACK OF SOUTH KRN F.MIGRA- 
TION. 

If, then, slavery has no capacity to extend itself, in 
any practical degree, into or towards the track of 
northern emigration ; let us now inquire what would 
be the results of the restrictive policy applied to the 
track of southern emigration. 

This, I have already observed, is, at present — per- 
haps for all our generation — a purely theoretical ques- 
tion. But let us imagine that it were now a practical 
question. Let us suppose that all the eight and a half 
millions of whites and four millions of blacks com- 
posing the population of the fifteen southern states 
were concentrated in the region east of the boundary 
between Alabama and Mississippi. 

I do not now decide whether the degree of density 
required for the perfection of the experiment would 
even then have been attained ; and, in the progress 
towards that density, doubtless the whites not holding 
slaves would have been, to a large extent, expelled. 
But assume the conditions to be such that the cost of 
subsisting the slave would approach the value of his 
labor. I would like to have our philosophers and phil- 
anthropists who advise the experiment solve some 
difficulties which we must anticipate. 

IMPRACTICABLE OR UNNECESSARY. 

1. What is there in human history to warrant the 
idea that a people, not having yet consented to self- 
destruction, could be confined on one side of an imagi- 
nary line, with their physical condition steadily ap- 
proximating to the want and misery which attend 
excessive density of population, when on the other 
side of that imaginary line, unoccupied and fertile 
lands invite them to abundance and prosperity? What 
degree of power in the government would be required 
to enforce a law imposing such a policy upon even a 
feeble community'? What degree of coercion would 
be required against eight and a half millions of our 
race? three times as many as achieved our revolu- 
tion? Against how many and in what proportions of 
the two races such coercion would have to be exerted 
when all the present territory should be filled up with 
population to the requisite degree of density, it is im- 
possible to predict ; but it is perfectly safe to say that 
the policy proposed by the Republican party to be 
theoretically adopted as a finality, at vast hazard of 
general ruin, a generation in advance of the time 
when it could take full practical effect, would, as soon 
as that time should arrive, prove wholly impracticable 
without the consent of the people to whom it would 
be applied : as with that consent it would be wholly 
unnecessary. 

Is it expected that the people to whom the system 
is to be applied will be blind and deaf until it shall 
have approached such fatal results? Is it not inevita- 
ble that they will be as prompt to resist and repel as 
you will be to organize and inflict your system? 



10 



FALSE PHILANTHROPY. 

2. Does not the nature of the process imply a con- 
stantly progressive deterioration in the physical con- 
dition of the slaveV Will not the master be forced 
by the necessity of self-preservation into a struggle to 
over-work and under-feed the slave, until, failing to 
make the products of labor meet the cost of subsisting 
tiie laborer, he succumbs ; and the social and indus- 
trial sj'stems topple in common ruinV Has not phil- 
anthropy run mad when it purposes to work out the 
liberation of the slave by such a process ? Does it 
not arrogate to itself the infallibilit_v of Divine wis- 
dom, when out of humanity to the slave, it would, by 
force of law, starve him into freedom ? 

Does it not arrogate to itself the power of the Al- 
mighty, when it attempts to establish such a system 
over fifteen communities with complete governments, 
with a population of twelve and a half millions, and 
occupying a region larger than half of Europe, by ex- 
ternal legislation enforced by external power ? If no 
government known to history has ever been strong 
enough to do this thing, what terms can adequately 
characterize the wild hallucination of attempting it 
through the limited powers and under the self-check- 
ing forms of confederation ? 

3. As the policy operates to restrain the emigration 
of the owner and the slave, but not the white man 
who holds no slaves, must not the eii'ect be to cause 
the latter to emigrate V Must not the proportion of 
the black race to the white be incessantly increasing 
by the operation of a permanent cause V At last, when 
the system culminates in emancipation, must not the 
result be communities almost exclusively of blacks ? 
Can the whites live in such communities ? Should we 
not, in the ultimate effects of the restrictive policy, 
convert our sister states into negro governmentsV Will 
we then allow them equality in our Union, as our 
Republican friends propose at the coming election to 
allow the blacks of this state equality in the elective 
franchise ? Would it not, on the whole, be better to 
let the black man go towards the tropics as best he 
may, bond or free, so that, if at last we come to dis- 
solve our Union, the dissolution maybe only with the 
black republics of the tropics; and we may at least 
retain the original thirteen who fought the battle of 
our independence, and the riparian states that control 
the navigation of the Mississippi, with white men for 
the governing power V 

4. Have we sufficiently considered whether acting 
upon slavery in the territories, in order to react upon 
it within the states, even if it were within our literal 
authority, would not be in some sort a fraud on the 
distribution of powers provided bv the constitution ? 
May a man get the Street Commissioner to wall up 
the entrance to my house on the pretext that it is only 
exercising the rights of the public over the streets 
which belong to the public '? May my neighbor flood 
my farm because the dam which creates the overflow- 
is built upon his own land V May a man plant his foot 
tirmly on the safety-valve and silence the engineer by 



saying that he does not interfere with the boiler? 
Now is not the natural increase by which one hundred 
and twenty thousand are every year added to the 
slave population as much a necessity as the existence 
of the present four millions V Is not another four 
millions of blacks within the next twenty-tive years 
just as much a fact as the present four millions V Can 
any man stop it ? Is not the fact which is to come an 
inevitable incident to the fact which now exists ? 
Must it not be dealt with as a part of the one great 
fact ? To ignore this inevitable incident, is it not 
shallow in philosophy, inadequate in policy, disastrous 
failure in government V And to whom naturally be- 
longs the solution of the problem it creates, except to 
those communities who have the great trust of the 
principal fact and whom we do not propose even to 
consult V Ought we to refuse even to join with our- 
selves in determining such a question, those who 
must reap the good or bear the ill of our decision in a 
case which, so far as the track of southern emigration 
is concerned, cannot affect us in the least ? Should we 
attempt to establish over them a polic}' — even if we 
sincerely think it best for them — which nobody 
among them can be found to approve or uphold ? 

5. Would not a wise man, with a conscientious 
sense of responsibility, although theoretically op- 
posed to slavery, if he were to be invested with ab- 
solute power over the primary fact of slavery with- 
in the states, or of the incidental fact of its natural 
growth, find himself unable, just in proportion as 
he should study these facts, to deal with them on 
any artificial sj^stem of human devising '? Well 
might Mr. Seward say that John Quincy Adams 
died despairing of a peaceful solution of the ques- 
tion ; for he had not, as Mr. Seward has not, any of 
that master-philosophy for such a problem, which 
says to the federal government. Let it alone. 

6. If in the attempt to solve this problem accord- 
ing to our own ideas, and to enforce our solution 
through the federative government, adversely to 
the whole public opinion of the southern states, we 
should break up the constitutional compact betwee-n 
us, should we not fail of establishing our policy 
with its imaginary benefits, while we should become 
the authors of the most transcendent calamity any 
generation has ever been able to inflict upon man- 
kind ? 

POLICY OF THE FATHERS. 

The traditional policy of our government, estab- 
lished by the fathers, and followed until 1850, is to 
be studied in all the acts of Congress upon the sub- 
ject of slavery considered collectively. 

It was : — 

1st. To prohibit slavery by federal legislation, at 
the instance of the North, and with the consent of 
the South, in the territories lying substantially 
within the track of northern emigration. 

2d. To leave the territories lying in the track of 
southern emigration without any federal legislation 
prohibiting slavery. 



11 



The ordinance of 1787, apph'ing the restriction 
to all territories north of the Ohio, and the Missouri 
Compromise of 1820, applying it to all territories 
north of the southern line of Missouri, were the 
parent measures, to which all the other acts were 
subordinate. None of the other acts of restriction 
extended their operation south of the lines estab- 
lished by those measures. 

At tlie adoption of the constitution the southern 
states consisted of a scattering population upon the 
eastern slopes of the Alleghanies. All the people in 
the region now embraced in states lying west of the 
ridge did not much exceed the number of persons 
to-day congregated in a single ward of the city of 
New York. 

Emigration has pushed westward until almost 
two-thirds of the present population of the South 
is in a region which seventy years ago was a wil- 
derness. On the west of Virginia has sprung up 
Kentucky ; on the west of North Carolina, Tennes- 
see ; on the west of Georgia and South Carolina, 
Alabama, and afterwards Mississippi, — all formed 
out of the original domain of the United States. 

An entire tier of states on the west bank of the 
Mississippi, comprising Louisiana, Arkansas, and 
Missouri, have been added out of Mr. Jefferson's Lou- 
isiana purchase. This tier embraces the whole track 
of the southern emigration, extending to the North 
even beyond that track. It carries the divisional 
line in the west, which had been deflected to the 
south by the adoption of the diagonal course of 
the Ohio, back to a point somewhat northerly of 
the line which has become the boundary between the 
free and the slave systems in the original states, by 
the voluntary action of those states. Florida on 
the south, and Texas on the south-west, have been 
subsequently added. 

Now, in all this region, embracing the entire 
track of the southern emigration, there has been 
no legislation of the federative government inter- 
fering with the natural course of southern emigra- 
tion, or disturbing the action of the physical laws 
by which it is governed, or preventing the establish- 
ment by the new communities thus formed of in- 
dusti'ial and social systems, similar to those of the 
states from which the emigration proceeded. 

THEIR SELF-RESTKAINT VOLUNTARY. 

I know the idea is inculcated that the government 
has abstained from such legislation only from defect 
of power or in submission to actual compact. 

To this I answer, _/(/'ft'<, that if this allegation were 
true, it would show that the policy of universal re- 
striction of slavery, which has been ascribed to the 
fathers, was, at best, but a theory, never reduced to 
practice ; nor of much weight as indicating the 
matured judgment as to practical legislation of 
statesmen who were never called on to put a specu- 
lative opinion into operation, or of the people who 
were never called on to submit to its effects ; 
secondly, that there is no foundation whatever for 



the allegation that the fathers would have applied 
the restrictive system to the track of southern emi- 
gration, if they could; or that they omitted to do so 
from any such necessity as is pretended, or from 
any reason other than their ideas of the self- 
restraint which a wise policy imposes on practical 
statesmen dealing with such a question. They had 
every means, method, and power open to their use 
which have been proposed to be employed for that 
purpose in our modern times. I say this advisedly ; 
and, though I cannot now stop to discuss details, I 
hold mvself ready to maintain the statement. 

Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, all Virginians, 
were undoubtedly opposed in theory to slavery, 
and looked forward to its ultimate extinction; but 
they were practical statesmen, and they did not 
make any serious endeavors to surmount the intrin- 
sic difficulties of the subject, either in Virginia or 
Kentucky, where it was open to their legal and con- 
stitutional action, still less in southern territories 
through the federative government. They proba- 
bly were never able to see clearly any satisfactory 
method and means of giving effect to their desires, 
even in the infancy of the institution; and they 
wisely left it to itself until the people interested 
should feel themselves able to solve the problem. 
No men had more power to have changed the practi- 
cal policy and practical results which I have shown 
to be facts of our history. That policy grew up and 
matured its fruits during the period of their ad- 
ministrations, and of their xmapproachable influ- 
ence over the public mind of this countrv, without 
opposition or dissent from them, often with their 
concurrence. Jefferson and Madison survived the 
time of the Missouri controversy; were then in 
retirement, free from all bias of political aspiration, 
sedulous only for the welfare and happiness of 
their country; and certainly not wanting in philan- 
thropy towards any of the human race. They 
have both left on record their earnest, thoughtful, 
warning protest against the whole scheme of ap- 
plying through federal legislation the restrictive 
system to southern territory, contrary to the will 
of the existing southern states. That a party 
organization exclusively northern, dominating in 
the federal government, should enforce such a 
system was never within their contemplation. That 
fact, if it shall be to-day inevitable, will be the 
political calamity of a later generation. 

MODE AND TERMS OF ADJUSTING THE CONTRO- 
VERSY. 

I assert that a controversy between powerful com- 
munities organized into governments, of a nature 
like that which now divides the North and South, 
can be settled only by convention or by war. I 
affirm this upon the xmiversal principles of human 
nature, and the collective experience of all man- 
kind. I aver it, in defiance of the babbling speech 
makers who set up for statesmen without possessing 
or understanding one element of that character; 



12 



Avho pretend to superiority of principle, because 
they denounce compromise, which is, in the very 
nature of things, the only solution possible of such 
a difference between such parties. 

By convention, I mean, not an ancient compact 
of confederation, but a fresh, living, practical as- 
sent of the wills of the parties to conditions in 
which those wills are moderately and fairly repre- 
sented, so that the acquiescence of both parties may 
be secured. 

INTERESTS OF THE PARTIES. 

We must study the practical interests of both 
parties in the questions, in order to see what con- 
ditions will be adequate. The elements of the case 
are simple. 

The northern states have a direct and important 
interest in keeping the natural course of their emi- 
gration into the territories substantially undis- 
turbed, with freedom to such of their people as over- 
flow into the territories to establish in their new 
seats such systems of industry and society as they 
have been accustomed to at home. 

The southern states have exactly the same inter- 
est. Both have an indirect interest in the forma- 
tion of new states, as it affects the balance of power 
between the two classes in the confederation. 

Now in respect to the first interest, so long 
as the federal government refrains from interfer- 
ence, there is really no conflict except in imagi- 
nation. For as long a future as the human vision 
can clearly scan, both have room enough, and 
they do not desire to occupy the same space. 
Slavery not only refuses to go into or towards 
the track of the northern settlers in the territories, 
but withdraws faster than white labor can replace 
it in the territories and contiguous parts of adjacent 
states. 

At an early period southern settlers touched the 
parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, which en- 
croached upon their track, sooner than northern 
settlers reached any portion of those states; and a 
feeble disposition to carry slavery there was mani- 
fested, but it was ineffectual. 

The only other tendency to conflict arose on the 
border of Kansas, contiguous to Missouri. The 
divisional line established bj' the admission of Mis- 
souri with slavery, and the restriction of slavery' 
from the territories west of it down to its southern- 
most boundary, became at this point perpendicular 
to the natural line of division between the two 
westward streams of emigration. It would not 
have been strange, therefore, if some settlers had 
crossed the boundary between the two with sla- 
verj^ ; but it could gain no stable footing there ; for 
the tendency for it to move down southward from 
Missouri was stronger than for it to ascend west- 
ward into Kansas. And a vast emigration from 
the northern hives was swarming towards both. 

It is my well-considered conviction that not one 
state is now free from slavery, which would have 



accepted it if no restriction by federal legislation had 
ever been enacted. 

FORMS OF COMPROMISE. 

Compromise of the territorial question has two 
forms. The one is by a divisional line practically 
agreed upon by the two sections, and declared by act 
of Congress. The other is worked out by natural and 
material causes, and finally declared by each locality 
when it is admitted as a state. 

As an original question, I think the latter mode the 
best ; for it avoids the struggle in fixing the line by 
the federative government ; and it will more exactly 
respect the natural courses of emigration. 

As to the interest of the two parties in the balance 
of power in the confederated government, the North 
certainly has nothing to fear. It gains in pojmlation 
at least seven hundred thousand as often as the South 
gains three hundred thousand, and it can form new 
states more rapidly. It has the advantage of greater 
numbers. The South, when attacked, has the advan- 
tage of greater unity. 

UNION OR DISUNION. 

Can the North understand the full import of the 
federative idea V Can it apply that idea completely 
to all the relations of the slavery question V 

That is the problem of the continued existence of 
our Union in a government of confederated states. 
Majorities in all the northern states against all the 
South are not without extreme difficulty formed or 
combined, and being wholly unnatural, cannot last 
long enough to dictate or to fashion a permanent 
policy for the Union. 

Such a result could never be reached except amid 
an extraordinary concurrence of circumstances, and 
in an entire failure of the northern people to see 
that the conflict is any thing more to the southern 
people than it appears to be in the North, — an ordi- 
nary struggle of political parties. This state of 
parties is only a paroxysm. Yet the North may, in 
a paroxysm, alarm and repel the South out of the 
Union. 

LOGICAL RESULT AFTER DISUNION. 

If it should do so, and if we should yet escape or 
recover from civil war, would we not soon wish to 
establish treaties of peace, — of free trade between 
them and us, — of unobstructed intercourse between 
our citizens V Might we not even desire an alliance 
for common defence ? Is it not clear that such ar- 
rangements would be eminently wise and eminently 
conducive to the prosperity and welfare of both 
parties ? would not such an arrangement be a salu- 
tarj' extension and improvement of the system which 
modern civilization is applying by diplomacy between 
independent nations all over the world V 

If these results were once successfully accom- 
plished, we should have restored an imperfect ap- 
proach, poor and miserable indeed, — far worse than 
the old confederation, — to what our great forefathers 
intended in our federative government, which they 



13 



framed and which we shall have broken into pieces ; 
in that case should we have any idea that it would be 
either our moral right or duty to interfere, in any 
manner, with slavery within their borders, or to sup- 
press, by force, the natural growth of new com- 
munities like their own by the inevitable increase of 
their population V 

Is it necessary for us to travel through all this 
drear}' cycle to reach a result which it is just as wise, 
just as necessary for us now to adopt V Through what 
human misery, what individual ruin, what public 
calamity, would we then have attained a compulsory, 
and no doubt contented, inaction as to slavery in all 
those aspects in which it now makes us fanatical. 

I say contented inaction ; for in that case we shoul-d 
see and feel, that it was no more our moral right or 
duty to interfere with slavery in a southern state or 
territory than in the Empire of Brazil. We should 
thus, over the ruins of our confederated government, 
have been brought to some sense of the true theory of 
local self-government under our federal constitution. 
Our misfortune would be that our wisdom had come 
too late. 

PERSONAL. EXPLANATION. 

It is with reluctance that I mingle one word of a 
personal nature in this discussion. But I must an- 
swer my personal friends of the Evening Post, who 
have courteously invited this discussion, so far as to 
say that I never held anj' opinion which could justifj' 
either the policy or the organization of the Republican 
party. If I had done so, I should not hesitate to 
frankly renounce so grave an error. I admit con- 
sistency, so far as it indicates conscientious delibera- 
tion and prudence in adopting opinions or in conduct, 
to be a quality which inspires confidence. But I do 
not consider it so great a virtue as a fixed purpose to 
do right ; and a single modification in a man's opinions 
on one of the questions which have occupied the 
public mind during the period of twenty-five years, 
ought not to shake an established character for con- 
sistency, especially if it be moderate, reasonable, and 
free from every taint of selfishness. But, in truth, I 
never adopted the doctrine of absolute and universal 
exclusion, by federal legislation, of slavery from all 
territories, and still less that of the exclusion of new 
slave states ; or the philosophical theory on which the 
doctrines are founded. 

Mr. Greeley, last fall, detailed and repeated his 
personal recollection of the anti-Texas meeting of 
'44 at the Tabernacle, in which, as he alleged, I joined 
with him. His obvious motive was to embitter against 
me the resentments of Republicans who once be- 
longed to the school of radical democracy. A candi- 
date, when imder the actual circumstances, as was 
known to the gentleman at whose instance I was 
nominated, and all my friends, that an election would 
have been a calamity to me, I felt at liberty to treat 
this misstatement — misrecollection, as I am willing 
to believe it — as I treated all similar ones of the can- 
vass, with silent indifference. In 1844 1 was strongly 



inclined to the theory in respect to the tendency of 
slavery to confine itself to its own natural track, 
which subsequent reflection has established in my 
mind, and which I have developed in this letter ; and 
I neither said nor did any thing inconsistent with it. 
I thought then that the question ought to be decided, 
not on the ideas either of New England or of Mr. 
Calhoun, but on general considerations of national 
polic}' ; that the acquisition of Texas was expedient, 
but ought to be conducted in a prudent and proper 
manner. The provincial ideas of New England were 
not more offended by that measure than by the acquisi- 
tion of Louisiana. They did not so strongly threaten 
to dissolve the Union, as they did on the same grounds, 
when the act was accomplished which gave the Mis- 
sissippi to us all, and to the North Iowa, Minnesota, 
and the territories stretching to the Pacific. I pre- 
sume that those from whom I then differed, and who 
now impeach my consistency, will advise a civil war 
to keep Texas and her kindred states in the Union if 
they should now attempt to go out. 

On the acquisition of California, the North univer- 
sally claimed that its status should not be changed by 
the act of the federal government. That was thea 
the leading idea of the radical democrats of this state, 
as expressed in their most authentic and authoritative 
declaration. In assenting to that abstract idea, be- 
yond which I never individually went, I did so in a 
sense of equitable partition, under which we had justi- 
fied our acceptance of Texas ; and might accept Cuba, 
— an abstract idea, however, which it was soon seen 
could not afford a perfect solution of the whole ques- 
tion in all its future aspects and applications, and 
which at that time was practically satisfied by the 
admission of California. Since that time the increas- 
ing development of the tendency of slaver}' to with- 
draw from even a contiguity to the track of northern 
emigration, and the immense influx of population 
from abroad, ought to convince every reflecting mind 
that whatever legal theory is adopted, our old habit of 
federal restriction over our portion of the territories 
can be safely abandoned, while any theory which 
should interfere with the track of southern emigration 
cannot be safely or rightfully applied by the legisla- 
tion of the federal government. 

The division in the democratic party of this state in 
1848 bears no analogy to the Republican organization 
of to-day. It would not have happened, except for 
what was deemed to be a violation of the right of rep- 
resentation in a national convention ; and the divi- 
sion was the year after composed, while the slavery 
question was still unsettled. Wise or unwise, right 
or wrong, it was in substance a mere protest. It is 
known that my personal wish then was, that its form 
should not have gone beyond its true practical char- 
acter. The scheme of a permanent northern party 
was not, so far as I know, entertained among the 
radical democrats, except in the mind of one man, 
with whom it was a mere undeveloped idea, soon 
abandoned, but resumed in 1855, when he led his fol- 
lowers into the Republican camp. The worst conse- 



14 



quence of the division in 1848 was, not like the 
division of the democratic party now, to bring in a 
sectional candidate of a sectional party, but merely to 
let in a national party, with Taylor and Filmore at its 
head, under whom the slavery questions were all 
wisely compromised. On that adjustment I have 
ever stood. Willing to accept the modern policy of 
total federal non-action in place of the system of 
division by federal legislation, I nevertheless used all 
my influence, at whatever sacrifice of relations, to 
resist the raising of the question of the repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise, because I thought a theoretical 
conformity to even a wise system dearly purchased by 
breaking the tradition of ancient pacification on such 
a question, and between such parties. At the same 
time, merely a private citizen myself, I appreciate the 
difficulty a public man has in acting against a general 
principle for the sake of merely prudential considera- 
tions, especially amid a conflict of sections and of 
parties. I foresaw on the formation of the Republican 
party, the evils and dangers which it would create, if it 
should succeed, as it could not have done without 
great adventitious aids, in combining an unbroken 
mass of northern majorities ; and I communicated my 
opinion to former political associates who joined the 
new organization. It is known to many that my 
whole action since has been dictated by this convic- 
tion. I have gone through this explanation on an invi- 
tation from those who were once my political as well 
as personal friends, in order to demonstrate that I 
have ever}' right to be heard by them, fairly and 
candidly, when I now state the limitations of our 
rights and duties. 

Let me say also that it was natural that on the hap- 
pening of the events which gave rise to these ques- 
tions, the northern mind should at first apply to them 
— too loosely and broadly I admit — the ideas which 
it had been accustomed to apply to the subject of 
slavery at home ; ideas which the progress of events 
and the maturing of opinion have shown must be 
greatly limited in their application in order to adapt 
them to the theor}' of our federative system. 

Let me add, that in renouncing the habit of federal 
legislation as to slavery in which we all grew up, and 
advocating the idea of federal non-interfen.ice with 
the industrial system of the South, I but cunform to 
that sound political philosophy which, upon all the 
great industrial questions of our times, has always 
guided not myself alone, but all radical democrats ; 
and which tiie Evenim/ Post, in all crises, with this 
single inconsistent, disastrous exception, even now 
applies and ably champions in conspicuous antago- 
nism to the entire political theory and persistent 
practice of the party with which it is now, in my 
judgment, unnaturally, and therefore, I hope, but 
temporarily associated. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

My conclusions are : — 

1. That the southern states will not, by any pos- 
sibility, accept the avowed creed of the Republican 



party as the permanent policy of the federative gov- 
ernment as to slavery, either in the states or terri- 
tories ; and, 

2. That upon this creed the Republican party will 
not establish any affiliations with considerable minori- 
ties in the southern states. 

All the evidence is, that the non-slaveholders are, 
generally, at least, as hostile to the Republican creed 
as the slaveholders. All experience shows that an 
interest very far less extensive, important, and funda- 
mental than that of the slaveholders in the South, 
usually unites the whole local community in its sup- 
port, especially against outside interference. And 
in this case, besides, there is a powerful motive, 
common to all, to preserve the social supremacy of 
their race. The very attempt to organize, by out- 
side instigation, a separate class of non-slaveholders 
against the general opinion of these communities, 
would be itself a new and intolerable irritation. 
The dream of a Republican party in the South is 
a mere illusion. 

3. A condition of parties in which the federative 
government shall be carried on by a party having no 
affiliations in the southern states, is impossible to con- 
tinue. Such a government would be out of all relation 
to those states. It would have neither the nerves of 
sensation, which convey intelligence to the intellect 
of the body politic, nor the ligaments and muscles 
which hold its parts together, and move them in 
harmony. It would be in substance the government 
of one people by another people. That system will 
not do with our race. The fifteen organized states to 
be subjected to it now occupy a region as large as 
France, Italy, the Austrian Empire, the German states, 
and the British Isles. In my judgment, such a con- 
dition of things could not become complete in all the 
departments of tiie government, before the antago- 
nism of the minority would throw off the government, 
by secession from the Union. I 

4. Nothing short of the recession of the Republican 
party to the point of total and absolute non-action on 
the subject of slavery in the states and territories 
could enable it to reconcile to itself the people of the 
South. liven then it would have great and fixed 
antipathies to overcome; and men and parties act 
chiefly from habit. 

5. Will the Republican party submit itself to this 
inevitable necessity to revolutionize its whole char- 
acter ? To attempt this change and not to perish as 
a dominant party is barely possible. Not to attempt 
and accomplish it, and yet to live as an ascendant 
power in our Union, is totally impossible. The Re- 
publican party must become as national in its struct- 
ure as the whig party was, and submit to the 
necessary conditions of such nationality, in order to 
be capable of governing the country. It must travel 
through the entire cycle of retrogression, and demon- 
strate that its existence in its present form was a 
mistake. The national whig party, if it had not been 
disbanded, might much sooner and more easily have 
taken the government, and could have done every 



15 



thing which is possible for the Republican partj' to 
accomplish without dissolving the Union. 

6. The election of Jlr. Lincoln, if it should occur, 
will place the Executive head of the federal govern- 
ment in the false and unnatural position I have de- 
picted ; that is to say, place it out of all relation to the 
people of fifteen states. 

To the eyes of these states it appears as the fore- 
runner of a complete system of the same character 
in the federal government. It fills their people with 
alarm ; it excites strong resentments. 

It will be a small alleviation that the result will 
have come about in some degree by divisions in the 
democratic party ; and by dexterous use of electoral 
forms, whereby the northern majorities will constitute 
little over one-third of the whole vote cast. 

It will be a greater alleviation, if the House of 
Representatives should change adversely to the Re- 
publican party. 

7. Our northern people look at this thing in the 
light of the ideas which prepossess their own minds. 
They overlook one fact which renders the position of 
the parties unequal, — the fact that slavery exists at 
the South and not at the North. They claim equality 
in the operation of their ideas with those of the other 
party, which is in many respects peculiarly and ex- 
clusively affected by their operation. 

They ask, have we not a right to elect a President 
in a constitutional manner by our votes '? You have, 
in obedience to the fundamental ideas of our confed- 
eration, no more moral right to do so on the basis of 
your present party organization than you have t« do 
a thousand other things which the laws and constitu- 
tion allow, but which reason, justice, public policy, 
and fraternal sympathy forbid. 

The South gave us Washington, Jefferson, Madi- 
son, Monroe, Jackson, Polk, Taylor, and we voted 
for them all. We offer them Lincoln, and they 
say they cannot vote for him because his policy 
is fatal to what, to them, is a vital interest, while 
to us it is but an abstract idea. We answer that 
we know better than they; if they will not agree 
with us we will not compromise, we will have our 
own way ! 

8. A southern partisan presidency on such a con- 
troversy, in unison with the southern state govern- 
ments, would be an evil, even if unavoidable ; but it 
would merely offend the ideas of the North. A 
northern partisan presidency on such a controversy, 
in conflict with the southern state governments, is 
manifestly pregnant with perils which no past ex- 
perience has witnessed, and which threaten the whole 
fabric of our Union with swift destruction. 

9. If we are not wise enough to abstain from creat- 
ing such a state of things, what right have we to sup- 
pose the South will accept it with patience ? Seeing 
the transcendent nature of the interest, — they have 
not the restraint of a party among them holding the 
sentiments of the northern majority, — they think that 
they are wronged, — they feel put upon self-defence. 
Have we a right to assume that they will act with 



what, from our point of view, would be a prudent 
moderation ? 

I fear that from the very election of Mr. Lincoln, if 
it should unfortunately happen, we should be em- 
barked upon a frightful agitation in all the South, — 
general alarm and excitement, — state conventions to 
deliberate upon the continuance of the Union. I 
recoil from contemplating the but too probable conse- 
quences in which all this must end. I know that the 
most wise, prudent, conservative, and patriotic men 
of the most Union-loving states of the South are filled 
with consternation when they think of the great surge 
of popular excitement which they will be called on to 
breast. 

10. What will Mr. Lincoln do ? Can he be ex- 
pected, as President, to understand the state of things 
in any other sense than that of his own partisan 
policy ? Can he avoid the attempt to maintain the 
power of his party by the same means which will 
have acquired it? Can he emancipate himself from 
the dominion of the ideas, associations, and influences 
which will have accompanied him in his rise to power ? 
Can he be expected to act in any new direction with 
sufficient breadth of view and firmness of purpose V 

If he shall fail adequately to respond to these great 
exigencies, the inevitable result as it presents itself to 
my judgment has been already sufficiently indicated. 

11. If he should act in a spirit of large patriotism, 
what will be his position and means V 

The history of Jackson's administration throws 
some light upon the difficulties which, in a vastly 
aggravated form, he may have to encounter, and upon 
the methods of action by which, if at all, they must 
be overcome. 

Jackson had to deal with a question comparatively 
unimportant, and far less purely sectional. As a 
southern man of great popularity and renown, he 
stood strong in the confidence of all the southern people 
whose votes had just contributed to raise him to 
power. He was the head of a strong Jacksonian 
party organization in everj' southern state. Clay, the 
head of the adverse tariff interest, was also a south- 
ern man, and at the same time the head of a great 
party in all those states. And yet, with all these 
immense advantages, Jackson, because the contro- 
versy was partly sectional, was compelled to exert all 
his power and to display all his courage in order, with 
the aid of Clay and Webstei', to accomplish its adjust- 
ment, even upon a basis of compromise and conces- 
sion, and he accomplished this result at last by fighting 
the battle through the public opinion of the disaffected 
section. 

Lincoln, if he should, in a crisis far more difficult, 
stand in the place of Jackson, to confront a public 
disorder infinitely more extensive, deeply seated, and 
dangerous — as he should stretch his eye a thousand 
miles over the region of disaffection, would see not 
one adherent; not one leader of local opinion with 
whom he was in established relations of friendship, 
sympathy, or support ; not one representative to speak 
in his name, with power to win the ear of the masses ; 



16 



not one of six hundred newspapers devoted to politics, 
and half that number devoted to other discussions, 
•which had not been preoccupying the minds of the 
people with distrust, hatred, or fear of him. Without 
any of the means by which combats of opinion are 
fought among a free people, himself an offence, an ob- 
struction, instead of a power to save, — the whole 
strain, the whole shock of the crisis would be thrown 
upon the mere intrinsic strength of our federal gov- 
ernment. 

I cannot, for one, assent to the creation of such a 
state of things. I have a faith in our popular sj'stem 
which never before faltered, but I dai-e not precipitate 
it upon such a trial. It is not a fair experiment. In 
my judgment, those who think it free from the most 
imminent peril, display the courage of men who hav- 
ing eyes cannot see. An incredulity, even more 
serene and stubborn, in the minds of monarchs, min- 
isters, and peoples, has often been broken by revolu- 
tion or by war. Such a crisis as that in which Lincoln's 
election would place our country can only be prudently 
treated after fully comprehending it. Historj^ is full 
of illustrations of the inadequate policy which meets 
civil convulsions, step by step, with concessions, at 
every stage, insufficient and too late, because the 
authors of the policy could not anticipate events, and 
events would not wait. 

Elect Lincoln, and we invite those perils which we 
cannot measure ; we attempt in vain to conquer the 
submission of the South to an impractical>le and in- 
tolerable policy; our only hope must be that as Pres- 
ident he will abandon the creed, the principles, and 
pledges on which he will have been elected. 



Defeat Lincoln, and all our great interests and hopes 
are, unquestionably, safe. 

If thus, or in an}' mode, we escape the perils of 
which his election will be the signal, our noble ship of 
state will issue forth from the breakers now foaming 
around and ahead, and spring forward into the open 
sea in all the majesty of her strength and beauty. 

But if the Providence which has hitherto guided 
and guarded our country shall at last abandon us 
to our foolish and wicked strifes, I behold a far dif- 
ferent scene. 

It is too late ! It is too late ! We are upon the 
breakers. Whose eye quails now ? Whose cheek 
blanches? It is not mine, who felt a "provident 
fear," and have done all I could. Where is the ex- 
cellent President of the Chamber of Commerce, whom 
they perched up in the forecastle to assure us that a 
good lookout was kept for our safety V Where are 
the dozen "great stakes," as Mr. Webster used to 
call them, whom they planted closely around him to 
shut out from the sight of the crew the beacon erected 
bj' Washington ? Where are the thoughtless, reck- 
less seamen who taunted me with cowardice when I 
vainly strove to warn them ? I hear only the wailing 
cry of selfish terror as I sit upon the straining tim- 
bers, and watch the rage of the sea. My mmd is 
filled, my heart swells with the thought, that yon 
wave which towers before us will engulf more of 
human hajipiness and human hopes than have per- 
ished in any one catastrophe since the world began. 



S. J. TILDEN. 



New York, October 26, 1860. 









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